


The Journey of Team Zero

by KittiePhanatic



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alternate Universe, Angst and Feels, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Diego Hargreeves is Bad at Feelings, Drug Use, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family Bonding, Gen, Good Sibling Diego Hargreeves, Good Sibling Vanya Hargreeves, Hurt/Comfort, Klaus Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Klaus Hargreeves Needs Help, No Incest, POV Alternating, POV Multiple, Post-Season/Series 02, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Protective Diego Hargreeves, Sibling Bonding, Suicidal Thoughts, Suicide Attempt, Vanya Hargreeves Needs A Hug, World Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-25
Updated: 2020-10-14
Packaged: 2021-03-07 03:08:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 38,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26099923
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KittiePhanatic/pseuds/KittiePhanatic
Summary: After returning to a very different 2019, the Umbrella Academy --- now known as Team Zero --- decide to visit their birthplaces of origin to learn what their identities have now become.  Meanwhile, one sibling must answer for some of his actions in Dallas, while the originally-most-disregarded sibling becomes the family mediator.The one where Klaus gets grief for lying about Ben, Diego has a much larger axe to grind with him, Vanya is an ally to each of them, and she and Diego become best friends.
Relationships: Diego Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves, Diego Hargreeves & Vanya Hargreeves, Klaus Hargreeves & Everyone, Klaus Hargreeves & Vanya Hargreeves
Comments: 136
Kudos: 386





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Greetings! My first TUA S2-related fic! I absolutely loved the second season of what is now officially my favorite series. (It tied with Stranger Things for me before TUA's second season.) In this fic I'm not going to include any speculation about the Sparrow Academy as I want to read the comics before attempting any fanfiction concerning that. So, this story focuses on the siblings discovering their identities while most of them continue rebuilding the stronger bonds that they had established or renewed in Dallas. The other focus, of course, is providing another redemption arc for Klaus, who kind of didn't do so well in canon this season.
> 
> Most of the TW content doesn't come until later in the story. 
> 
> Comments much appreciated!

The six non-Hargreeves siblings exited the Sparrow Academy reeling in shock over what had just transpired.

After time-jumping from 2019 to avert an apocalypse only to wind up in Dallas and stop a 1963 Doomsday, the siblings returned to April 2, 2019 having succeeded in the former and anticipating getting back to the lives they had always known. They quickly received a rude awakening when they discovered Sir Reginald Hargreeves alive and well with six new adoptees (or seven if you count the floating cube); worse yet, leading the pack was a much different version of Ben --- or whoever he was called --- who of course had no idea who his former-timeline siblings were. The Umbrella Academy had never existed in this timeline. 

The good news was, they had immediately seen that Pogo was alive when he had entered the living room concerned by the commotion; unfortunately, he was accompanied by a human woman dressed as a professional housekeeper instead of their beloved robot mother. Diego hoped that at least the original human Grace whom he had encountered in 1960s Dallas had heeded his advice and left the asshole. 

_You have five seconds to vacate my home before I contact the authorities!_ Sir Reginald had bellowed; they quickly complied.

"Unbelievable," Luther exclaimed to the siblings standing around him on the front yard of the mansion in the early evening sky.

"So much for for us finally doing something right for once," Diego muttered snarkily as he referenced what Klaus had said upon arrival in the mansion foyer. "So, what the hell did we do now, Five?"

"I---I---" Five stammered. He sighed as his eyes bewilderingly wandered around the group.

"Wow," Allison chuckled. "I think that's the first time I've seen you speechless, Five."

"Guys, none of this is helping," Vanya interjected. "We need to figure out---"

"Well, whatever we figure out," Diego interrupted, "we can't do it standing around here."

Luther nodded. "The park?"

The group slowly made their way to their destination, allowing each the time to process this literally new normal. Not to mention everything that had taken place for the siblings' respective lengths of time in the 1960s.

"I just can't believe it," Allison shook her head to the group encircled around her on the grass in the center of the park. "Who _was_ that guy in our brother's skin?"

"I don't know," Luther somberly sighed, "but that wasn't our brother."

"Probably not even named Ben," Klaus piped up as he sat between Luther and Allison. 

Diego turned and glared at Klaus. "No shit, Sherlock! Tell us something we don't know!"

Vanya felt a twinge of sadness as she watched Klaus slowly turn his gaze from where Diego was seated to her left back to the center and quietly stare at the ground.

"So, what's our next move?" Allison wondered. "I mean, what _can_ we do?"

"To be honest," Luther said bitterly, "It's better to cut ourselves completely off from that asshole."

"Oh, I'm in," Diego said with a slight but cynical grin. "Especially after that son of a bitch shanked me."

"After everything he ever did to me, so am I," Vanya declared. 

"Guys!" Five yelled, the briefcase lying beside him. "We have a much bigger problem right now!"

"Of course!" Allison threw up her hands. "We don't even have a home!"

"We don't just not have a home, Allison," Five snapped. "We don't know what has happened to any of us! None of us were adopted by Sir Reginald. That means, how did we grow up? _Where_ did we grow up? We don't know _anything_ about ourselves now! All of us have lived completely different lives!"

The group sat quietly for a moment, stunned at this revelation. Five was absolutely right.

"That means…" Allison trailed off as tears welled up in her eyes. "That means that Claire…." Allison covered her mouth as a sob escaped. _All this time I couldn't wait to see her. Now I never will._ Allison pictured her adorable three-year-old with bushy pigtails and expressive brown eyes. "My beautiful little girl…."

To the left of Allison, Vanya quickly scooted closer and put her arms around her sister, while Klaus placed his left hand on Allison's shoulder. Everyone remained quiet for a moment, allowing Allison that time to grieve. Including Five, much to Luther's relief; otherwise he would have thrown Five across the park.

"So, what do we do, then?" Vanya inquired after the two sisters pulled away.

Klaus looked away from Allison and mischievously eyed the briefcase lying on the grass next to where Five was seated.

"No way, you moron!" Five quickly grabbed the briefcase handle. "We are _not_ doing any more traveling through time, or using the Commission, or any other means of disrupting our current timeline any more than we already have!"

"Then why hold on to it?" Luther demanded. 

Five sighed. "Because I have an idea of what we could do, but I'm not sure how well it might work."

"What, Five?" Luther impatiently snapped. 

"We go to each of our birthplaces and find out as much official documentation as we can about ourselves. And with enough information we just might be able to find out where we ended up…perhaps where each of us is currently supposed to be living."

The group sat and stared at him. "Wait," Allison said. "Do any of us even know where we were born? Dad never told me."

"I don't know, either," Luther chimed in.

Vanya's thoughts immediately jumped to the flashbacks of the girl wearing the bright yellow swimsuit in the pool with her bulging abdomen, and then the same girl screaming while lying on the deck with multiple people encircling her. Which reminded Vanya of her first time having seen those flashbacks when….

Vanya quickly snapped out of it. "All I remember is a woman giving birth at some indoor swimming pool."

"And I don't know shit about my birthplace of origin, either," Five complained, while simultaneously Diego rested his hand on Vanya's arm and whispered, _You okay?_ Vanya quickly nodded and returned her attention to Five. "So, that's kind of a big problem, don't you think?!" He continued ranting.

Diego slowly raised his hand. "I do."

The siblings all turned to face him.

"I know where we all came from."

Everyone sat staring at Diego in stunned silence. "How?" Luther finally exclaimed.

"Mom told me."

The others waited for Diego to continue. 

"The day I moved out, Mom came into my room while I was packing. I think she knew it would be the last time she would see me for a long time. So she wanted me to know in case…" Diego swallowed the lump in his throat. "Anyway, I wrote everything down until I could memorize it. Mom said to keep it to myself unless it was an emergency, and I think this qualifies as an emergency." Diego then turned to his left, starting clockwise with each sibling's location. "Five: you're from Brisbane, Australia; Luther: Coalville, Leicestershire, England; Klaus: Munich, Bavaria, Germany; Allison: Norfolk, Virginia; Vanya: Moscow, Russia; and I'm from Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico."

"Wow," Allison said. "I mean, we're literally from all over the world. How are we going to get to any of these places when we have no money or identity?!"

"Well, that's where this briefcase comes in," Five held it up. "All I have to do is set it for the exact same date and time, which is always set to Coordinated Universal Time, and then our desired location."

"Wait a minute, Five," Luther cautiously interjected. "Aren't there already versions of us running around? If we discover our current location and come in close proximity of our other selves, what about Paradox Psychosis?"

The others stared blankly at Luther's mention of the disorder about which he had learned from the Battle of the Fives during the tragic historically known day in November 1963. "What?" Vanya asked, confused.

"Long story," Five said quickly. "And anyway, that's not even an issue. By jumping a day ahead into the future from the vantage point that April First, 2019 was supposed to be our current date, our previous selves now cease to exist, including my fifty-eight-year-old doppelganger."

Vanya exchanged respective confused glances with Allison and Diego while Klaus stared blankly at Five.

"Longer story," Five muttered.

"I don't know," Luther skeptically eyed his old little brother. "This all seems pretty risky to me. Chances are that if any of us survived up to this point it was in another country, so there's no chance of us becoming U.S. citizens."

"Well, it's better than us walking around here with no documentation or knowledge of our existence," Five argued.

Vanya nodded and raised her hand. "Uh, yeah, I'm living proof of that." She scoffed before continuing more seriously, "But what about our powers? I mean, what would have happened to each of us if our powers were activated and whoever was raising us didn't know how to handle it?"

"Well, at least in your case, the world is still in one piece," Five snarked.

"Really, Five?" Vanya sighed, frustrated that people were still making apocalypse jokes after all of her memories had returned. It was one thing when she still had a relatively blank slate, but not when every horrific thing she had done and had ever been done to her had come back in a flash while being electrocuted and drugged by the FBI.

"Hey!" Diego snapped. "Enough of the apocalypse shit. _All_ of you. Vanya doesn't need that. And remember, she saved _all_ our asses by wiping out hundreds of Commission assassins." Vanya turned and gave a small but grateful smile to him. She was still getting used to the fact that the sibling who seemed to have hated her the most throughout their lives was now her friend, and an even closer one after having developed a bond over the fact that each of them had just lost the respective relationship that had likely ever meant the most to either of them --- at least in Vanya's case.

Five looked at Diego, and then remorsefully at Vanya. "He's right. I'm sorry, Vanya."

Vanya smiled. At least this time around, she knew her family loved her and meant what they said, and that Vanya herself was much less sensitive. "It's okay," she chuckled. "It's not every day that someone blows up the moon." _Or slashes your sister's throat,_ she sadly thought to herself as Allison warmly smiled at her. "I think it's a great idea, to be honest. If nothing more, I've never been outside North America."

"What the hell, I'm in," Diego immediately piped up.

Luther, Allison and Klaus looked among one another and nodded in agreement. 

"Well, I think that's about the best family meeting we've ever had," Allison declared. 

Five looked at his watch. "Okay, it's seven-thirty now. Library closes at nine. I'm gonna head there now to make copies of the maps of everywhere we're going and research anything else that I can until then. So I'll meet you all here at nine and then we can talk about getting this process started. Diego, those names again, please?" 

After committing to memory the names of everyone's birthplaces (including Seoul, South Korea for Ben just because he was curious), Five held on to the briefcase as he zapped away.

"Well," Diego grunted as he quickly jumped to his feet. "Plenty of time for me to take care of some unfinished business."

As Diego took off Allison exclaimed, "Wait, where're you going?" while Luther and Vanya declared simultaneously, "Diego!"

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Klaus quickly sprang up and followed his brother out of the park. "Diego!" Klaus yelled as he made it to the sidewalk just a few paces behind him.

"Go away, Klaus." Diego kept his back turned to Klaus as he continued sprinting forward. 

"You're going to find Patch, aren't you?"

"Back off!"

"Don't talk to someone who doesn't know you now!" Klaus was almost right behind him.

Diego abruptly stopped and sharply turned to face him. "Mind your own fucking business and get the hell away from me."

"Don't make the same mistake I did!" Klaus cried, recalling that horrible incident with Dave and his uncle at the diner, which had prompted Klaus to throw away three years of sobriety and Klaus had yet to rejoin the wagon; he now no longer had any desire to do so ever again. 

Diego stared at Klaus through narrowed eyes. "Oh, trust me, I won't make any of your mistakes." He started to turn away but then vehemently faced Klaus. "You know, that was really shitty of you, lying to all of us by saying that Ben never made it back with you in Dallas!"

Klaus gulped. He knew that after having learned that it was Ben who had brought Vanya out of her destructive energy blasts and fully transitioned to the afterlife as a result, the siblings would eventually want answers from him. He could barely face Diego's furious brown eyes. Regardless of how much Ben had frustrated the piss out of him throughout his thirteen years of following Klaus around and Klaus not wanting the other siblings to join in, Klaus had no excuse.

"I know that Luther, and Allison, and especially Five, who had to live forty-five years in the apocalypse, would have loved to say hi to him," Diego sharply scolded him. "I'm just grateful that at least I had the chance!"

Klaus blinked. "What are you talking about?"

"I talked to him while he was possessing you at your weird little cult compound," Diego angrily explained. "He was with some girl so I figured it was you, but thank Christ Ben was able to prove himself to me. I told him to stay inside you until you got to the alley with the others to travel back to 2019. Unfortunately, Allison, Vanya and I wound up getting kidnapped, arrested, drugged, beaten, tortured…but still, the _only_ reason that you made it there on time was because there was someone actually responsible calling the shots!"

Klaus searched back within his deep fog of memories from that day. He recalled the moment he gave Ben the green light in his compound bedroom, and the next thing Klaus vaguely remembered was violently puking Ben out in the alley where he and Ben had first landed from the time-travel vortex in 1960. Klaus felt a sense of betrayal, as well as guilt; Ben was only supposed to stay inside Klaus until he was done with Jill, but Klaus was wrong to keep Ben from the family. He also knew, though, that if Ben's existence were made known, Klaus would essentially cease to exist in everyone's eyes. Ben was the intelligent one. The sensible one. He was the "Heart." It was not long after Ben had died that the Umbrella Academy had lacked any other purpose to continue as a "team"; they never were one, anyway.

Diego gritted his teeth. "Now, go back to the others and stay the hell away from me."

Klaus watched defeatedly as Diego spun back around and ran off.

Diego had every right to be angry, Klaus knew. Klaus had been unfair to Ben and the others. Now the Ben they knew was gone forever, and Diego wanted nothing more to do with Klaus. _It's my own fault._

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"So, what was that all about?" Vanya curiously observed the exchange of knowing glances between Luther and Allison after Diego had left with Klaus on his tail.

Allison sighed. "Diego probably went to make sure his friend from the police force is okay." After noting Vanya's confused expression Allison realized, "That's right; I don't think you knew this." Allison then turned to Luther.

"Remember the lunatics in masks who attacked the Academy?"

Vanya nodded to Luther and let out a chuckle. "Yeah, that was hard to forget. And the ones who shut down Mom, right?"

Luther nodded. "Well, you probably know now that they worked for the Commission: Hazel and Cha-Cha."

Vanya was taken aback. "Wait, the same Hazel who died while helping Five with Doomsday?"

Luther nodded. "He did eventually resign from the Commission; but before that, he and Cha-Cha kidnapped Klaus and Diego's detective friend Patch somehow found them and tried contacting Diego for backup, but we were busy looking for Five trying to find out who these gunmen were. By the time Diego got to the scene Cha-Cha had already shot Patch. Diego even later got arrested for her murder."

"Jesus!" Vanya exclaimed. 

"Hazel gave Five the gun to clear Diego's name when he quit the Commission," Luther told her. "Of course, all of this is now a moot point, anyway."

Allison nodded sadly. "The Commission wouldn't have even been here in this timeline…."

"...but his friend won't know him now," Vanya somberly concluded.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Diego stood across the street from the police station, a flurry of nervous energy encircling his heart. He had to know if she was okay. He flashed back to himself sitting outside Eudora's apartment, saying, _For once, try doing things my way._ He shuddered and blinked back a tear as he recalled the last time he had seen Eudora as he had sobbed in the motel room while embracing her body with a gaping hole in her abdomen.

Diego spent several minutes down that rabbit hole until he was finally distracted as he watched the side door open. And there she was, Eudora Patch, followed by Chuck Beaman as they exited the building onto the side parking lot. Diego felt a surge of excitement as he observed her long black hair tied back in a ponytail as usual, while she talked with Beaman as they approached her vintage Mustang. Diego noted the file folder that Eudora was clutching; damn it, she was going to do her paperwork at home again. He watched as Eudora shook hands with Beaman before getting in her car. He felt nothing but relief and happiness as he watched her drive away.

Eudora Patch was alive. She would never know who Diego was, but at least she was alive.

Diego turned heel and quickly started his route back to the park. After a couple of blocks, he halted in front of a payphone. There was a much more important matter he had needed to check out.

He grabbed the directory underneath the phone inside the booth. Diego quickly scanned the _P_ section of surnames, and then the _J_ s. No listing for either Leonard Peabody or Harold Jenkins. Diego looked at his watch: just a couple of minutes past eight; plenty of time to check out Peabody's former home which was near the Academy (and the park). He wanted to know for Vanya's sake whether that asshole still existed and was going to be any problem.

Diego hadn't thought much about everything that had gone down in the original 2019 timeline until he'd gotten himself locked up in the nuthouse; he'd then had much more time to reflect while shaving down the bars on his bedroom window, and he had soon made the connection regarding Leonard's/Harold Jenkins' sick obsession with the Academy which Diego, Allison and Five had discovered in the attic during their break-in at Leonard's home before. Diego had recalled an incident when they were thirteen (and after Five had disappeared) when Sir Reginald had ridiculed a boy claiming to be part of the forty-three births, in front of a large crowd celebrating the Umbrella Academy's return from a successful mission. Diego, Klaus and Ben had peeked through the front door as they watched the boy clad in his own handmade Umbrella Academy uniform costume plead with Sir Reggie not to make him go back home. In hindsight, Diego had since figured that Harold Jenkins' father had beaten him and was why Harold would have killed him, but that was no excuse for the sick bastard that he had become, and to especially take advantage of Vanya.

As Diego sprinted toward the neighborhood of Leonard's previously-known place of dwelling, he thought back again to everything that Allison had told him and Five about her observations of Leonard en route to breaking into his place from the police station. How Allison had caught him snooping around the apartment the day that Diego and Luther were looking for Five, just two days after Vanya and Leonard had met. How Leonard had even gotten possession of Vanya's keys in the first place: because Vanya had spent the night at Leonard's after Diego and Allison had basically told her to leave the Academy following the shootout. He felt a sharp pain as he recalled yelling that Vanya was a liability instead of finding out if she was okay. Diego definitely had a part in bringing on the apocalypse.

Diego soon made it to the house and crouched down next to the front window. In the living room sat a couple on a couch with their backs turned to Diego, watching something on TV. Diego clutched his knife as he observed the full head of dark hair on the man.

Within a couple of minutes the TV show cut to a commercial. With his back still turned against Diego, the man got up and walked into the hallway while the lady headed toward the kitchen with an empty bowl. Thirty seconds later the woman returned with the bowl full of popcorn and a half-filled bottle of wine which she poured into two empty glasses on the coffee table. As she sat back down, the man reentered the room and Diego finally was able to get a look at the man's face.

It wasn't Leonard, or Harold. 

As Diego began making his way back toward the park, he hoped that the scumbag was indeed away from the city instead of going by yet another alias. This would be something to check out after this other worldwide mission was completed, if and whenever that would be; and whether they all would even wind up here after this was all over. But Diego vowed not to intentionally fail his sister this time.

Diego's part in all of this was by holding a grudge for way too long, and having been overall cruel to Vanya throughout their lives. And he had continued verbally assaulting her even after she had voted with him not to shut Mom down during the family meeting, instead of protecting her. Not that Vanya really needed much physical protection now, but he knew that Vanya had a lot of emotional and mental wreckage from which she was now learning to recover.

Diego had failed to be an ally for Vanya in the past. Now he would do whatever he could to be one for her today.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Klaus sat silently and listened as Luther and Allison explained to Vanya certain events she had missed in the previous 2019 timeline. They had just wrapped up what had happened to Patch as Klaus had returned from his unpleasant encounter with Diego, and they went on to describe how Luther had discovered his four years of moon research unopened by his father, resulting in the insurmountable sense of betrayal not only by Dad but by Pogo, who had also known. That, of course, led Luther right into describing the subsequent reveal (after Luther had conveniently left out the part about getting drunk and strangling him after discovering the research, Klaus noted) that Dad had known about the apocalypse and had actually killed himself in order to reunite the siblings so they could stop it, something else that Pogo had confirmed. 

_Yes, because of course, you didn't believe me when I told you about Dad,_ Klaus thought bitterly while blankly staring at Luther's chattering. _Would you believe me if I told you I was killed trying to save your life at the rave and_ **_that's_ ** _how I got to converse with him? And how about an apology for choking me?!_ Klaus wanted to say these things out loud, but that would just lead the others to throw his lying about Ben back at him, and that was something he knew that he truly couldn't justify. 

Luther then detailed to Allison, Vanya and Klaus his trip back to the mansion after his 1962 arrival and what Sir Reggie had cruelly described as Luther's "grotesque simian proportions" --- that which their dear old Daddy had done to Luther himself, of course. 

"Jesus," Vanya sighed. "All these years I was so angry for the things he'd said to me about not being special, but for him to say those things to you, and around a large crowd of people. And for him to cut Diego down in front of all of us during the supper meeting---"

"Well, there _was_ some truth to that," Luther cut in. "Not the more cruel things he'd said, but Diego does harbor a superhero complex. Look at how obsessed he was with saving JFK the entire time he was in Dallas."

Before Klaus could think, he muttered, "Says the guy obsessed with the moon."

Luther and Allison abruptly turned their heads to him. _Shit. Why did I do that?! Here it comes …._

"Klaus, do us all a favor and keep your mouth shut," Luther snapped. "Right now I'm _very_ not happy that you lied to us about Ben."

Allison looked suspiciously at Klaus. "Was that the ghost you were talking to in my kitchen that morning?"

Klaus gulped. He nodded guiltily. 

"Damn you, Klaus!" Allison angrily groaned. "I would have loved the opportunity to talk to him. He was right there and I never knew it!"

Klaus felt a sharp pang of guilt in his heart. It didn't matter what his reasons were; he had been wrong. "I'm sorry," he murmured, unable to face either Allison or Luther.

"Sorry doesn't cut it, Klaus," Allison said sharply. 

"She's right," Luther sternly agreed. "You wanted us to take you more seriously. So we trusted you to tell us the truth. You broke that trust."

Klaus swallowed the lump in his throat. Luther was right. They were finally starting to trust Klaus and he fucked that up.

Thankfully, Vanya quickly diverted the subject by inquiring how Luther had gotten connected with Jack Ruby. Klaus forgot his own past interest in finding this out as he drowned Luther out, lost in his own thoughts of guilt, resentment and self-loathing. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Diego returned just a few minutes before Five appeared; a good thing as Vanya knew that Five would have shit bullets if it had been the other way around. 

"Okay, I have copies of all of the maps and some tour guide books," Five told everyone. "I have the coordinates of remote areas outside each city so that we don't draw any attention to our arrival. Chances of us randomly encountering someone as helpful to us as Elliot are very slim. We'll find an appropriate hideout while we're in each location. Now, one problem to this is that because our previous selves in this timeline no longer exist, people in our respective areas of residence may start looking for us. So, the person whose birthplace we're visiting will have to stay put in our shelter until we know what happened to them. And one other person should stay with them, both for safety purposes and an extra set of eyes. After hours, I'll blink into sealed official records buildings, and Allison, I'll need you with me; in case someone catches me, you can use your power to make them forget that they saw us."

Allison sighed.

"Are you okay with using your power?" Luther asked her.

Allison hesitantly nodded. "In this case, yes I am."

"Whoever is left can access information from libraries and other public resources, and then whoever is sheltering themselves can sort through all of our research," Five said before looking suspiciously at Klaus. "Klaus, do you think you can stay clean enough in case we might need any intel from ghosts?"

Klaus pulled out his liquor flask and took a swig. "Yeah, but I can still drink and conjure them." He shoved it back in his coat pocket. 

"Oh, Jesus," Diego abruptly stood up from where he was sitting. "You know what, if and when he goes through withdrawals, someone else can deal with him for once. I've gone through this with him for thirteen years. I'm done." Diego walked several paces away and stood with his back turned to the group.

Vanya watched as Klaus dropped his gaze. She felt bad for him, but she could also understand where everyone else was coming from. She knew she had more of a neutral perspective since she had gotten to not only talk to the Ben they had used to know, but to hug him as well. So she leaned over to Klaus. "I can help you. Whenever you're ready."

"So, now to decide in what order we visit each location," Five continued. 

"We're definitely _not_ going by numbers," Diego reminded everyone as he returned to the group circle. "No more Number One, Number Seven bullshit, remember? We're Team Zero."

"How about alphabetically by our names?" Vanya suggested.

"But where would that leave Five?" Allison pointed out.

"I'd be willing to use the letter 'F' instead of the number," Five offered.

"Well, that would make me first," Allison sighed. "As long as no one else minds."

Diego nodded and gave Allison an empathetic half-smile. "It'll help you get closure, sis."

Vanya also nodded in agreement. "I don't mind being last."

"No, no," Klaus suddenly piped up, although Vanya still noted sadness in his eyes. "I'll go last. After everyone else."

Vanya felt bad for Klaus. She knew this was one of what might become many ways in which Klaus would try to make up for his actions in Dallas. "Are you sure, Klaus?"

Klaus forced a smile. "Yeah, Vannie. Of course."

"I'm fine with it, too," Luther said.

"Okay, then," Five said as he arranged the settings on the briefcase. "So our first stop is Norfolk, Virginia. Everyone in agreement?"

The siblings nodded and connected hand-in-hand or with hand on Five's shoulder as he opened the briefcase and they all zapped away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, so I'm already enjoying the feedback I'm getting less than twelve hours after posting this first chapter (at the time of this end-note). I hope to update this at least once weekly, but I also want to do adequate research on each location that the siblings visit (especially since I already received a comment from someone in Norfolk, Virginia!) so to provide an accurate description of the laws and cultures of those regions. I have more time to do that now since I'm currently on unemployment compensation due to the pandemic; I'm still being a responsible adult looking for work, but in the meantime I can put more effort into this story. I really like what I intend to make the siblings become in my head, and hopefully I can convey it just as well in this work.
> 
> Thank you all for the comments and kudos thus far! 😻💖


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: mention of a past suicide.

It was a quarter after nine when the six siblings appeared in the middle of Ocean View Golf Course underneath the Norfolk night sky.

"Okay," Five said after everyone had taken a few seconds to collect their bearings. "We're at a golf course near the East Coast, in the Ocean View region. This is a major tourist area, so there are many vacation rental homes that are sitting around unoccupied since it's still about a month before tourist season starts its peak. So, we find a vacant place for tonight."

The siblings eventually found their way out of the golf course and spent about another half-hour wandering around the neighborhood until they located a house that appeared unoccupied. Five zapped inside and after a couple of minutes he unlocked the front door.

There were three bedrooms with two beds each; however, Diego opted to spend the night on the couch as he had no desire or patience to share a room with anyone. Therefore, Vanya and Allison shared a room as did Luther and Five, while Klaus had a room all to his own. _Good,_ Klaus thought to himself. _Much easier for me to sneak out._ And Klaus did indeed plan to do so after everyone else was asleep. He hoped to stay clean from street drugs and just stick to alcohol, but at the very least he needed to make money. Not just for access to alcohol, but in case he might eventually need something more extreme, once again. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

_"You can't deny your true self any longer even if you_ **_are_ ** _afraid."_

_"I'm not afraid!"_

_"Then, eat up! One more bite and you can go."_

_Vanya stared at the brain on her supper plate. She quickly grabbed her fork, dove into her meal and shoved a chunk into her mouth._

_In a flash, everything came back to her. The girl in the pool. Four-year-old Allison rumoring her. What she did to the attackers. Allison. Leonard. Pogo. The Academy. Her four brothers. The moon. The world._

Vanya quickly sprang upright in her bed and darted her eyes around the room. She observed Allison sleeping in the bed across the bedroom. 

_It was a dream. I'm in Virginia with my family. I'm united with them now. I'm not that person anymore. It was just a dream._

But it wasn't just a dream. It was a repeat of what Vanya had gone through in the FBI building. It was then that she noticed that she was shaking.

Vanya slowly and quietly got out of bed and wandered down the hallway until she made it to the kitchen. She quietly opened each of the cupboard doors so not to awaken Diego on the couch in the adjoining family room/common area. She eventually found a set of drinking glasses and slowly turned on the kitchen sink faucet. After filling her glass she turned off the faucet, and with trembling hands she took a couple of generous sips as she glanced out the kitchen window to the backyard deck.

And that was when Vanya noticed that instead of sleeping on the couch, Diego was sitting on the steps along the edge of the deck.

Vanya took a few more gulps of water before placing the now-half-full glass on the counter alongside the sink. She walked over to the sliding glass door and opened it.

Diego quickly turned around. "Hey," he partially smiled. 

"Can't sleep?" Vanya stepped outside and pulled the door shut. 

Diego shook his head. "You?"

Vanya shook her head. "No," she sat down next to Diego atop the steps that overlooked the backyard lawn, which Vanya could make out relatively well underneath the nearly-full moon. She could still hear her heart pounding somewhat from her memory dream.

Diego quietly observed her for a moment. "You okay?"

Vanya forced a smile and nodded at him. "Sure." She immediately turned back to scanning the lawn.

However, Diego didn't take his eyes off her. "You're a shitty liar, Vanya. And I know something was up at the park back home."

Vanya felt a sense of uneasiness. How could she talk about her previous actions to one of the siblings she had nearly killed by draining the life out of him while he'd been suspended in midair by her energy tendril?

"Vanya," Diego continued, "we couldn't stop the apocalypse because we all isolated from each other. We might've been more of a team in Dallas, but we couldn't stop Doomsday the first time around and we almost caused it the second time because we were still doing our own shit. And no offense, sis, but you really can't afford to keep shit you're dealing with bottled up."

Vanya let out a faint chuckle as she stared ahead. Diego was right; that plus for so long Vanya had wanted to be heard but had never felt she was. That had become the motivating factor in writing her memoir, something she also now regretted; since having regained her memory she could see how naïve and inappropriate her behavior had been, and publicly exploiting her siblings who had endured their own abuse from their father was the worst thing she could have done prior to the initial awakening of her powers. At least now her autobiography no longer existed. And she also knew that Diego was likely the only sibling with whom she could talk about this; after all, Vanya had slashed Allison's throat (and she couldn't begin to imagine how horrifically traumatic that must have been for Allison), and talking to Luther would have just added to his feelings of guilt over locking her up (despite having since repeatedly apologized to her and she had completely forgiven him accordingly), and Klaus was dealing with too much himself and couldn't be as much of a help to others while he was drinking. "I guess you're the only person I can talk to about this," she finally said.

Diego remained quiet, waiting for her to continue.

"You know how I brought up where I was born," Vanya went on. "I hadn't remembered that before. In our original timeline, I mean." She sighed before thinking back to that horrific ordeal, still less than twenty-four hours before now. "When I was in the FBI building, and they'd drugged and electrocuted me---"

"Fucking bastards," Diego bitterly muttered. "Sorry. Go on."

"I had this dream…or, at least, what started out as a dream. We were all at the supper table with Dad back home. Everyone was taunting me about why I couldn't remember anything." Vanya decided to leave out the part where everyone was served brains as their supper; that was just too creepy to explain. "Dad said I was too afraid to face my true self, and then…he _made_ me remember. Everything came back in a flash. That was when I lost control again." Vanya felt herself trembling and a massive lump in her throat. "I just had a dream about it. It was like I was back there all over again."

"Hey," Diego said quietly as he placed his hand on Vanya's shoulder while she rubbed her eyes. "You are _not_ that same person. And none of what happened at the FBI building was your fault. You said it yourself: they tortured and drugged you. And this all happened in the first place because that asshole husband of Sissy was a bigot."

"I know," Vanya shakily responded, "but I still have to live with what I did before."

Diego sighed. He was quiet for a moment as though contemplating what to say. "What did Ben say to get you out of…wherever you were?"

Vanya teared up as she remembered Ben's gentle tone and sincerity, moments before he would wind up being gone forever…or at least the Ben they had always known was.

"He said that Dad kept me isolated and medicated because he couldn't control my powers, but that I can."

"That's right," Diego agreed. "And you sure as hell have proven that by taking out all of the Commission. That and the demonstration you gave Dad at the supper wasn't too bad."

Vanya gave a slight chuckle with Diego's.

"Hey, listen," Diego said gently. "Can you promise me something?"

"What?"

"If you have these kind of nightmares again, come and get me. It doesn't matter what time of night. Okay?"

Vanya felt a sense of warmness run through her heart, while at the same time a sense of hesitancy. "Diego, I don't know how often I'm going to have these---"

"It doesn't matter," Diego firmly repeated. "You're not going through anything alone anymore. Shit, I used to be up this time of night dealing with bad guys, anyway."

Vanya smiled gratefully at her brother. "Okay."

"Pinky swear?" Diego held out his finger.

"Pinky swear," Vanya said as she connected hers with Diego's. "So, what about you? Why are you out here this time of night?"

Diego sighed as he stared ahead. "I was just thinking about Lila…and Eudora."

"Was Eudora who you went to go see?"

Diego nodded.

"The others told me what happened to her," Vanya said empathetically. "But she's okay now?"

Diego smiled at her and nodded again.

"How did you two meet?" Vanya asked him.

"Police Academy."

"You joined the Police Academy?" Vanya somehow couldn't picture Diego in a cop uniform, with either his haircut before Dallas or his longer hair now, which Vanya admitted to herself she liked better; perhaps it was because his previous appearance was when he was cruel to her (although she could tell that he was just as upset with Luther for locking her up as the others), but ever since their reunion in Dallas Diego had been nothing but kind to her…other than his initial minute of skepticism. 

" _Yes,_ " Diego jokingly retorted. "Back in 2013. I asked her out on our first day. I got kicked out of the Police Academy after three months, and we broke up after that."

"I bet she wasn't exactly thrilled with all of your vigilanté work," Vanya chuckled. 

"She put on a front, but I knew she liked putting the bad guys away as much as I did. She just had to deal with all of the department bureaucracy, which I wouldn't have been able to do myself." Diego then sighed sadly. "It was my fault she died."

"What?" Vanya couldn't imagine that of Diego. "How?"

"We were tracking down Hazel and Cha-Cha, because the night before they attacked the Academy, they shot up the Gimble Brothers department store. Five must've gone there to get his mannequin."

"Did Five _really_ have a relationship with a mannequin?" Vanya thought back to the conversation between herself, Allison and Klaus at the salon.

Diego chuckled as he shook his head. "Yes. It, or 'she,' was with Five in the apocalypse. So, the day after the Academy was attacked, I went to go see her, to find out if she had any more leads. I told her they were looking for my brother who was missing. None of us knew that Klaus had been kidnapped, and Luther and I spent the entire day looking for Five. We found him drunk at the library with his mannequin. We took him to my place since we knew the Academy wasn't safe, and my boss and landlord gave me a message from her saying she'd found my brother." Diego sighed sadly. "I just got the message too late."

"I'm sorry," Vanya said quietly as she placed her hand on Diego's arm. "But she's okay now."

"Yeah. She doesn't know me now, though, which I guess is a good thing," Diego snickered. Then he said more seriously, "And then there's Lila. I don't know what to make of all that. Damn it that the Swede killed The Handler before she could say whether she was responsible for the deaths of Lila's parents. She probably would have accepted us as family if The Handler had done it."

Vanya nodded sadly.

"Anyway, we really can't dwell on that," Diego said. "We should try to go back to bed. Who knows what shit we'll be doing tomorrow."

Diego and Vanya stood up and headed indoors. Before Diego laid himself back down on the couch he said, "Hey, Vanya, I mean it. If you have any more of these nightmares, come and get me."

"I will. And thank you," Vanya smiled at her brother. 

Thankfully, Vanya didn't have any more nightmares that night. However, it had also taken Vanya a long time to get back to sleep.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Klaus climbed back in his bedroom window at three a.m. He pulled out the wad of cash and began counting his money.

Klaus had sneaked out at midnight and soon had managed to find a gay bar. He wound up entertaining the patrons by stripping down to his underwear and dancing. The bartender didn't mind as Klaus kept people inside the bar and getting more drinks, meaning, more tips for the bartender as well as a crapload of tips for Klaus. By closing time, everyone was expecting Klaus to be back tomorrow night…or technically tonight, Klaus realized. 

A hundred and twenty fucking dollars! He definitely had enough for drugs if he needed them. He put the cash back inside his coat's inner pocket and lay down on the bed, in an attempt to get what little sleep he could before his much more responsible siblings would awaken him.

He really didn't want to be around the others, and no one seemed to want him around either, except maybe Vanya. It really didn't matter to Klaus what Luther and Five had thought of him…but Allison and Diego had been his friends growing up, and Diego had often taken care of Klaus after they became adults. He wasn't sure whether Allison would forgive him for lying about Ben, but he could tell by Diego's anger that Diego wouldn't. And before the time-jump to the sixties, Klaus had considered Diego his best friend. Ben would have been Klaus' best friend if Ben hadn't spent the last sixteen years (which included the three in the sixties) consistently complaining about all of Klaus' choices…even while Klaus was sober for three years!

But now, Klaus had to admit to himself that he missed the real Ben…not whoever that person was now.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

At seven a.m. Five awoke the siblings. While the siblings made their beds Diego, who of course had no bed, cooked two cartons of eggs that Five had looted along with a gallon of orange juice from a grocery store overnight. In one pan was a dozen scrambled eggs specifically for Luther, and in the other was the additional dozen to split among the other siblings. 

By eight a.m. the siblings left the house in the exact condition when they had arrived, just in case the owners or any guests would come.

"Okay, so here's what we do," Five said to his siblings in the living room. "Norfolk has several libraries. The main library is fortunately just a few blocks from us, and then there are nine additional branches scattered throughout the city. So, Luther, Diego, Vanya, Klaus…you each select a branch and look up any news articles that might describe someone like Allison. I'm going to find the locations of birth and adoption records for Allison and myself to break into after hours. Allison, for now you need to lay low in case your former self was still living here at this time. You should stay here, but be prepared to escape if someone shows up, or you'll have to rumor them."

"Okay, but can I choose who gets to stay with me?"

Five looked at the others, who all nodded. "That seems fair," Five said to Allison. "On that note, when it's our turn, we each should choose who stays with us. We're going to be around that person for eight hours and possibly more than one day. The rest of us don't want to come back to our hideout and find that a couple of our siblings killed each other."

"I'd like Vanya to stay with me," Allison smiled at her sister. "We haven't had any time alone together since…" Allison flashed back to the horrific event at Leonard's cabin. Vanya guiltily dropped her gaze. "...since we all left 2019." She then turned to Vanya. "If you want to, that is."

Vanya looked back up and smiled at her sister. "I'd like that."

"Okay, then," Five said. "Luther, you check out the main branch. It's just to the north of us on Ocean View Avenue." He then pulled two copies of Norfolk city maps from his folder. "The two next branches closest to us are Little Creek and Barron F. Black. Here are directions to each." He handed the map with Little Creek info to Diego. As he thrust the other map to Klaus Five added, "Try to stay sober while doing this."

Annoyed, Klaus snatched the paper. "Aye, aye, Captain."

"Hey, listen, you guys," Diego piped up. "We're Team Zero now, remember? That means that whatever sibling's birthplace we're researching, no one should have to read their results alone. We don't know what we'll find out about ourselves."

Everyone nodded in agreement. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Of course, Klaus made a stop by the Virginia ABC state liquor store on his way to the library. None of his siblings, besides Diego, had seemed to give a crap about him when he had first started getting sober after Vietnam. Shit, nobody had believed Klaus when he admitted that it was Ben who had saved Diego's life. Klaus should have kept his mouth shut, because before Klaus' admission that was the only time that Diego had ever taken him seriously.

Klaus flashed back to himself and Diego standing outside the crumbling mansion, and the warmth Klaus had felt in his heart as Diego had cupped Klaus' face in his hands and exclaimed proudly, _You just saved my life, man!_ Klaus then recalled how Diego had followed him into the veteran bar insisting that Klaus tell him what was wrong, and yet he had tried to shoo Diego away. Klaus would give anything to be comforted by his brother now, to have Diego say he forgave Klaus for lying about Ben. But now Diego's demeanor toward Klaus was the same as how he had treated Vanya. And yet now Diego and Vanya were on excellent terms. Klaus had seen the two of them sitting on the farmhouse porch with their heads leaning against each other. Vanya had written her book, killed Pogo and indirectly killed Mom, and blew up the moon; yet everyone forgave her because she had been treated so unfairly and all of the siblings had their part as well. Meanwhile, Klaus was always known as the useless junkie, and whatever his problems were was his own fault.

Klaus again thought back to right before the siblings had returned to 2019 and Diego's comment as Klaus had grabbed the cowboy hat: _Fifty bucks if we leave him here._ Now he wondered whether Diego was actually serious.

Diego might be calling the siblings Team Zero, but Klaus knew that Diego hadn't really included Klaus in that.

_I should have just stayed in 1963,_ Klaus bitterly thought as he unscrewed the lid from his bottle of gin and started chugging while heading to the library.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

By the middle of the day Five had located the Department of Motor Vehicles, which was listed as the source for copies of birth certificates. However, Five also learned that all Virginia original birth records were stored at the Richmond Bureau of Vital Statistics, and adoption records were maintained by the Virginia Department of Social Services, also in Richmond. Five hoped that the others would find enough information about Allison's alter-ego so that he and her would not have to travel there (or at least use the briefcase to get there).

Five decided that he would check on the siblings' progress and then go to another library if no one had been successful. He checked the map. The closest library to him was the Barron F. Black branch, where he'd sent Klaus. Five was in no mood to deal with that idiot who was probably drunk by now, anyway. The Little Creek branch was the next closest, but screw it; he would go to the main branch, since the siblings would all have to eventually return to that area.

So, he started the six-mile trek, teleporting when no others were around.

About halfway to the Ocean View district, Five passed by a building with the sign, _Hampton Roads Journal._ An idea hit him, and he opened the door to the building and went in.

"Can I help you?" The receptionist asked. At least she didn't include, _young man?_

"Yes, I was hoping to talk to the editor, if he or she isn't too busy."

"He," the receptionist said. "May I ask the nature of your visit, young man?"

_Well, shit._ Five bit his lip for a moment before responding, "Yes, I just moved to this area, and I'm working on a school project of finding the most bizarre news stories in this area." Five then thought of something else. "I'm actually an aspiring reporter myself and was hoping for some advice from him as well."

The receptionist looked at him thoughtfully before picking up the phone. "Well, let me contact his assistant and see if he's free."

Ten minutes later Five found himself sitting across the desk from Brian Moore, editor-in-chief of _Hampton Roads Journal._

"So, you just moved here? You have a parent in the Navy?" Brian cheerfully inquired. 

"New job, actually," Five lied. He wouldn't have known where any other naval bases were located throughout the country in case Brian would have asked where Five had lived before. "I assume the receptionist told your assistant that I am doing a school project and was looking for some of the strangest past news stories in this area."

"I can think of quite a few," Brian said. "I've been editor-in-chief for fifteen years now and was a reporter for twenty years before. Born and raised here."

"By any chance, do any of those stories involve children? If I can get enough information I want to make it a theme about children."

Brian immediately nodded. "Yes, there was actually an extensive child abuse case I had actually followed as a reporter. Jennifer!" He called to his assistant. 

"Yes?" A dark-haired woman in her forties appeared in the doorway.

Brian was writing something and then handed the sheet of paper to her. "Can you pull these articles and make copies of them, please?"

While Jennifer was obliging, Brian explained, "Back in 2001 there was a well-known case about a mother in Virginia Beach who was arrested after it was discovered that she had paid a doctor here in Norfolk to surgically remove her daughter's vocal cords back in 1998. The doctor was also arrested and was sentenced to twenty years but died of natural causes while in prison. The mother herself served fifteen years."

"And why would the mother sever her daughter's vocal cords?" Five wondered, hoping that this would have indeed been the girl he was looking for. 

"The mother alleged that her daughter had a superpower that allowed her to alter reality by prefacing a sentence with the words, 'I heard a rumor.'"

_Holy shit,_ Five thought to himself.

Brian continued: "During the trial it was also pointed out that the daughter's birthday was October First, 1989. I'm sure you're familiar with the 43 spontaneous births from that day, and the Sparrow Academy."

"Yes, I'm familiar," Five said with sarcasm. "So, what happened to the daughter?"

After Five heard the story he was presented with copies of multiple articles about Tamara Johnson and the daughter whose vocal cords she had surgically removed, Layla.

It was time to collect the others. Five had all the information that Allison would need. And fortunately, while at the same time unfortunately, Allison no longer needed to hide out.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Allison had spent the morning telling Vanya how she had wound up working at the salon and met Raymond, and the civil rights work they had done together. Eventually Vanya had started nodding off, admitting that she hadn't gotten much sleep the night before. Allison let Vanya sleep for a couple of hours, not caring if Five would show up and pitch a fit. After all, just two days before, Vanya had been tortured by the FBI and then had to deal with Harlan, the Commission and Lila the next day. She needed time to rest.

However, by the afternoon Vanya was much better and told Allison how she had met Sissy and Harlan, and what an asshole Carl had been. Because both Raymond and Sissy were in their late thirties back in 1963, both Allison and Vanya had come to the sad conclusion that neither of them were alive today.

At six o'clock Five zapped in the family room, startling both sisters. A few seconds later the front door opened and Luther, Diego, and an obviously drunk Klaus entered.

"Well, the good news is, we don't have to break into any government offices tonight," Five said. Then he held out a file folder. "You didn't get adopted after you were born. Your mother kept you for a few years."

"A _few?_ " Allison repeated as she took the file folder and opened it. "Holy shit," she said as she read the headline of the first article. "Virginia Beach mother, Norfolk doctor arrested on multiple charges; mother paid doctor to surgically remove daughter's vocal cords."

"Holy shit," Vanya said as she and Luther sat on opposite sides of Allison, who continued reading aloud how an investigation on the doctor had revealed this horrific machination against her. Another article revealed the sentencing of her mother and the doctor. And sadly, one more article, and an obituary. 

As Layla, Allison had gone on to live with a foster family, but she was bullied in school due to her lack of speech. Therefore, the copy of the obituary had Allison's picture with the same long black curly hair she'd had at thirteen, but no smile.

_Layla Rose Johnson, 1989 - 2003_

_Layla Rose Johnson transitioned into eternity on March 14, 2003 at age thirteen. She was born to Tamara Johnson on October 1, 1989._

_Layla led a rough life as the daughter of the woman who paid to have her vocal cords removed by Dr. Mark Redding of Norfolk. Layla was then placed in foster care in Virginia Beach._

_Unfortunately we, Layla's foster parents, were unaware of the hardships she was having with her peers. We were devastated when Layla made the decision to end her life at just thirteen years old._

_Layla is survived by her foster parents, Doug and Abigail Lorentzen._

_We are submitting this obituary not only to honor the daughter we were planning to adopt, but also to send the message to anyone feeling as hopeless as Layla did to tell someone you trust. Also, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is available 24/7 at 1-800-273-8255 (TALK). Your loved ones would much rather help you through whatever you are experiencing than to have to bury you as we must now do for the girl we considered our daughter._

_Layla will be interred privately._

Allison wiped the tears from her face after reading aloud the obituary. "Jesus. That poor girl. I mean, the picture looks like me, but _doesn't_ look like me. She just looks so empty."

The siblings all remained quiet while Luther and Vanya each laid a hand on Allison.

"Well, at least now I know that Claire doesn't exist." Allison's voice wavered as she slowly set the file of articles on the coffee table. Then she looked at Luther. "The bowling alley. I couldn't say goodbye to her. The last time I ever talked to my daughter was when I rumored her." Allison began sobbing. "I couldn't speak to her!"

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Diego watched Luther pull Allison in an embrace as Allison cried over the realization that Claire indeed did not exist now, while Vanya slowly got up from the couch and backed away, a look of guilt on her face.

"Come on, you guys," Diego said quietly to the other siblings and motioned to the front door. They quietly walked out front, allowing Luther and Allison privacy.

"Well, shit," Klaus slurred. Diego was standing about five feet from Klaus and he could still smell the odor of alcohol. That idiot.

Diego then observed Vanya, staring blankly ahead with watery eyes. "You okay?"

Vanya quickly glanced at him and then back away. "I'm going for a walk." Vanya quickly darted away from the property. 

Diego immediately followed and soon caught up to her at the crosswalk on Ocean View Avenue, next to the beach. "Come on. Talk to me, Vanya," he said as he placed his hand on Vanya's trembling shoulder. 

"I did this to Allison," Vanya said tearfully while awaiting the crossing signal. "I'm the reason she couldn't say goodbye to Claire."

"Vanya---" Diego started to say when the walk signal appeared and Vanya sprinted across. Diego caught up to her again as they walked toward the beach. "Vanya, this is _hardly_ your fault."

"It _is_ my fault!" Vanya cried.

Diego grabbed Vanya by the upper arms and made her face him. "No! Would you listen to me?! Allison said she picked the worst possible time to tell you what Dad made her do to you, and not only were you being manipulated by a sick bastard, he took all of your psych meds that you'd been taking for _twenty-five fucking years._ That would badly mess any person up. And you didn't mean to hurt her!"

"But I meant to kill Pogo, and hurt all of you!"

"Because Luther locked you up in that fucking bunker and your powers went out of control. I wanted you out. We all did. I know he apologized, but you need to understand that we all had a part in everything that happened."

Vanya covered her face with her hands. Diego removed his own hands from her arms and gently placed them on her hands.

"Hey," he said quietly as he slowly guided Vanya's hands away from her face. "We all had a part. I…I treated you like shit most of our lives, and I was wrong. And I'm sorry."

Vanya wiped the tears from her face. "I deserved it. I never should have exploited you all by writing my book."

Diego placed his hands back on her upper arms. "Hey. I forgive you for that, okay? Besides, the novel no longer exists." Vanya dropped her gaze as more tears fell. "Come on. Sit down." Diego guided her to the sand and after they both settled down Diego drew Vanya to him in an embrace. "I need to apologize for a lot of things. But the most recent is when I called you a liability after the Academy got attacked, and after they'd hurt you. I'm very sorry, Vanya. I was just angry because…." _I had just shut Mom down,_ he almost said.

Vanya pulled away to face him. "Because they'd killed Mom."

Diego swallowed the lump in his throat. Right now, he needed to be strong for his sister. "Yeah."

"That must have been unimaginably difficult," Vanya said.

Diego was about to say, _you have no idea._ But then again, she would. "Yeah, but at least Pogo was able to restore her."

Vanya's eyes widened. "He did? I never knew that! I never saw her after our family meeting about her."

"That's another thing. You sided with me on not shutting her down and I still treated you like shit."

Vanya paused for a moment, obviously thinking of something. "Wait, then what happened to her when I…you know," she sighed. 

Diego couldn't bring himself to tell her. The silence and his expression made the answer obvious to Vanya.

"I killed her, didn't I?" Vanya began crying again. "When I destroyed the mansion." She turned away and covered her face in her hands. "My God, how could I have done this to so many people?!"

"Vanya…." Diego felt helpless as he rubbed circles in Vanya's back.

"You must hate me," she sobbed. "Or at least you did."

"No!" Diego said sharply, realizing what he needed to do now. "Vanya, would you listen to me?" Vanya uncovered her face and turned back to him. "Vanya, Hazel and Cha-Cha didn't shut Mom down." Vanya's facial expression turned to puzzled. Diego sighed, "I did."

Vanya stared bewilderingly at Diego. "What? Why?"

Now it was Diego's turn to stare blankly ahead at the ocean. "I went to check on her after the shootout. She didn't even know anything had happened, and she was running her stitching needle through her arm."

"Jesus," Vanya said quietly.

Diego felt his eyes burn as he continued, "I was afraid that if Luther had found her, he would have just shut her off with no mercy. At least I was able to tell her it was going to be okay." His voice broke, "And while I was doing this she was still trying to help me with my damn stutter. While I was _killing_ her."

It was Vanya's turn to place a hand on Diego's arm. "I'm sorry."

"So, I can't be mad at you," Diego wiped his eyes and regained composure. "And I think I can understand why he didn't rebuild her this time around."

"Why?" Vanya asked, confused.

Diego turned back to face his sister. "I saw her in Dallas." As Vanya's eyes widened, Diego said, "Not as a robot, but as a person. She was dating Dad at the time. I saw her first at the Mexican Consulate, and then she was in his car parked outside the building where we met Dad. I showed her the picture from the Frankel Footage and tried to convince her that Dad was involved in the plot to kill the President. If she listened to me and left him, then the real Grace would have gone on to live her life and Dad wouldn't have built a robot that was never allowed to leave the house and didn't even have her own room to sleep in. I guess I'll never know, but it would give me peace of mind to know that she left the bastard."

Diego and Vanya were quiet as they looked out into the ocean. Vanya rested her head on Diego's shoulder, and just like at the farmhouse Diego leaned against her in return as the two watched the waves crash in the distance.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Luther held Allison on the couch for several minutes as Allison cried into his chest.

"I didn't deserve her, anyway," Allison eventually said as she pulled away.

"Why, because you rumored her?" Luther wondered. "I mean, you said it yourself: any parent with that kind of power would try to do it."

Allison shook her head. "It's not just that. Claire was born because of a lie."

Luther looked at her, puzzled.

"Luther, I rumored Patrick to love me."

Luther sucked in a breath. "Shit."

"So, you know, me losing custody of Claire, and then her not existing at all…I deserve that."

Luther placed his hand on Allison's. "You deserve to be happy, Allison."

Allison stared at Luther, not wanting him to ever know that when she was thirteen she had rumored Luther to love her. "And so do you," she smiled at him.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

_"Vanya, I_ **_love_ ** _you!"_

_"I SAID GO!!!"_

_"Don't make me do this….I heard a rumor---"_

_Vanya flicked her bow, and Allison collapsed clutching her bloody neck._

_"ALLISON!!! I DIDN'T MEAN TO!!! I DIDN'T MEAN TO!!!"_

Vanya shot up in her bed. She looked around. Allison was sleeping peacefully in the bed across from her. Vanya trembled as she slowly pulled the covers off herself and got up from the bed.

She shakily walked to the family room where Diego was lying on his back on the couch. She lightly tapped his arm. "Diego?"

Diego opened his eyes and blinked a couple of times before pushing himself to an upright sitting position. "Hey. You had another one?"

Vanya nodded, her eyes brimming with tears as she sat down next to Diego, who placed his hand on her shoulder. 

"What was it this time?" Diego asked gently. 

"What I did to Allison," Vanya sobbed. Diego pulled her into an embrace and quietly held her as she cried.

"Hey," Diego said after they pulled away. "It turns out that this couch has a pullout bed. Don't take this as me having feelings for you like Luther and Allison; you're my sister. But if you want, you can stay here with me tonight."

Vanya helped Diego set the bed up, and then she grabbed the pillow and comforter from her own bed. As Vanya lay down and tried to fall back asleep, Diego placed his hand on hers.

Vanya was back to sleep within minutes.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Klaus stumbled through his bedroom window sometime around four a.m.

After Vanya and Diego had taken off Five zapped away to do his own thing, allowing Klaus plenty of time to par-TAY! And this time he made just over two hundred dollars in tips. And, knowing they would be going to Mexico next, Klaus decided he should spend his American dollars. Of course, he quickly found a drug dealer and made the man quite a bit richer.

Klaus pulled one of his many baggies of pills out of his coat pocket and kissed it. "Hello darkness, my old friend," Klaus sang as he popped two pills in his mouth. He then lay back, closed his eyes, and waited for the comfortable numbness.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"This isn't going to be another kind of Luther-and-Allison scenario, is it?"

Vanya and Diego slowly opened their eyes to find Five standing over them.

"No," Vanya mumbled while trying to wake up.

"Fuck off, Five!" Diego grunted. 

"Well, I'm about to wake up the others so that we can get ready to head to your country of origin, Diego." Five then left to go pound on Klaus' door while Vanya and Diego folded the bed back into the couch. "You useless piece of shit!" They heard Five yell to Klaus. "You're high, aren't you?"

Diego smirked bitterly. "Didn't take long."

Vanya said nothing, but she felt bad for Klaus. Diego was treating Klaus like he used to treat her. She couldn't blame Diego and the others for being upset with Klaus for lying about Ben, but Vanya knew the two were always close growing up, and the several times she had run into Klaus on the city bus as adults he had told her he and Diego would still hang out at times. She didn't want to interfere, but Vanya hoped that as this bond she had with Diego grew even more, she could eventually get to the bottom of what was really upsetting Diego about Klaus.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

After having breakfast and reorganizing the vacation house, Five stood with the siblings in a circle as he set the briefcase to their next destination: Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so grateful for all of the kind comments!

The sun had just barely risen as Team Zero landed in a farm field just north of Los Mochis, two hours behind where they had been in Norfolk.

It took the six siblings a bit longer to find shelter, but after about an hour they located an abandoned boarded-up farmhouse which looked somewhat similar to that of the Coopers in Dallas. Once inside, the siblings discovered a queen-size mattress in one of the bedrooms. Of course, they didn't know whether it had been left by the previous owner or a squatter had used it. Regardless, the brothers agreed they would let Allison and Vanya sleep on it at night.

"At least you'll have a comfortable place to sit during the day," Luther said to Diego.

"Oh,  _ hell _ no!" Diego loudly objected. "You think I'm gonna just sit here on my ass all day and do nothing, then you might just be as high as Klaus!"

Klaus, meanwhile, sat in the corner of the bedroom remaining unusually quiet. 

"You will, in fact, stay here!" Five ordered. "If your other self was still alive until April Second, then he may just be very well-known, because Los Mochis is among the top boxing cities in Mexico!"

"I know that, Five!" Diego retorted. "As a professional boxer before, I read up on the fighters here, especially knowing since we were seventeen that I was born here."

"So, you need to stay put," Five repeated. "And I sure as hell feel sorry for whoever's going to be stuck hanging out here with you."

"Screw you," Diego glared at Five before looking around at the rest of the group. "Okay, fine. I'm going to make myself useful. Because Dad was an asshole to our sister---"

"We need to quit calling him 'Dad,'" Luther interrupted. "Not only was he never a real dad to us in the original timeline, but he didn't even adopt us in this one."

Diego nodded. "Absolutely right. Okay, since 'Reggie' isolated Vanya from the rest of us, she never had the Martial Arts training that we did growing up. So, Vanya can stay with me and I'll start teaching her. That way she has other means of fending off bad guys besides using her powers."

"I  _ knew _ it!"

"Piss off, Five," Diego shot back at him.

"Okay. So, there's only one library here," Five handed a copy of the city map to Luther. "The Biblioteca Publica Lic. Ignacio Garcia Tellez, on Calle Ignacio Allende. Luther, you, Allison and Klaus do research there." Five then looked at Klaus, sitting against the wall. "Allison, you may need to babysit Klaus. Make sure he doesn't do anything too stupid."

Klaus smirked back at Five.

"I'll find out where we need to go for birth and adoption records," Five concluded. "Again, we'll meet back here at six o'clock."

As Five and the three other siblings exited the house, Luther asked, "Five, what did you mean by your remark about Diego and Vanya?"

"I caught them sleeping together this morning," Five rolled his eyes. "I just hope this isn't another incestuous relationship."

"Jesus, Five!" Allison glared at him.

"Y'know," Klaus finally spoke up, "I really don't get that sorta vibe with them."  _ Not that anyone cares about what I think, _ Klaus opined to himself. 

"I don't, either," Allison said. "I think I can understand his attention to her, though."

Luther nodded. "Trying to make up for how he treated her before."

"That, and," Allison added, "he's looking for someone to protect."

_ I used to be that someone, _ Klaus thought to himself. He couldn't count the number of times in the past where one minute he was high as a kite in an alley and the next thing he knew he had awakened in Diego's boiler-room apartment. Either Diego had heard a report on the police radio or one of his cop buddies would call Diego to come get Klaus. Klaus  _ knew _ he had fucked up spectacularly by lying to the family about Ben, but since Diego had also gotten to interact with Ben, why was Diego so upset with him now?

"Okay, let's head to the library," Luther said. "This is one way that I'm actually grateful for our upbringing as we know the Spanish language very well."

In fact, the siblings knew seven languages fluently. Along with English and Spanish the siblings were taught German, Russian, French, Hindi, and the original Greek language. Therefore, they accordingly would have no problems communicating in any of the other countries they were about to visit. 

"Come on, Klaus," Allison took his hand.

Klaus could feel the drugs wearing off. At least he could use the library restroom to refill himself. And hopefully drugs were a lot easier to obtain in Mexico.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Diego did spend half an hour starting Vanya out on Martial Arts; of course, he had partially used the training as a front. He didn't like admitting to anyone how he felt about someone. Diego indeed did not have any romantic feelings for Vanya, but as her brother he had grown much more fond of her since they had mended the fences between each other in Dallas.

After the half-hour, Diego gave Vanya a break, stating that they would resume training in the afternoon. An hour of training per day was enough, unlike their childhood, where he and the other five (and eventually, four) siblings trained for twelve hours per day.

Diego told Vanya about some of the craziest (pun intended) moments at the nuthouse, as well as during his brief stint at the Police Academy. Somewhere in the conversation the subject of Leonard Peabody was brought up. That led Diego to ask how she "met" him in the first place.

"He claimed to have interest in learning the violin," Vanya told him. "You know, there were  _ so _ many red flags about him that I just didn't get."

"Yeah, Allison said she found him wandering around in your apartment."

Vanya nodded. "Yeah, just two days after we met. I realize now that he had taken my meds so that my powers would reawaken. The next morning I discovered that my refill was missing and I didn't make the connection."

"Did you actually know he had a vendetta against us?" Diego said. "It wasn't about you."

Vanya shook her head. "Nobody explained it to me. This is the first time I've actually talked about him since I got my memory back."

Diego explained to Vanya about Reggie's public mistreatment of Harold. "He must have read your autobiography and used our resentments against each other to his advantage."

"Well, I'm not sure about that," Vanya informed him. "He actually had Reginald's journal."

"What the hell?" Diego snapped. Then he realized what likely had happened. "Shit. I knew Klaus was looting stuff from the house to pawn. It was probably in a valuable container and Klaus threw it in the dumpster outside. I noticed a shitload of garbage bags scattered around it when I showed up for the family meeting about Mom. Pogo probably threatened him."

"Still, the fact that there was so much to be suspicious about Leonard that I didn't get because I was so socially inept. I mean, when I was living on the farm I saw right through Carl from almost Day One, and he didn't show his assholery in full swing until he told Sissy he would be working late at the office and then called drunk from a payphone outside Jack Ruby's bar. That was over a month after I arrived, and I think that was the same night you broke out of the sanitarium. I saw Luther for my first time since the time jump the next day, and then I saw Five after that."

Diego nodded. "Five had just landed the day I busted out. And you can't blame yourself for not catching onto Leonard. All of us were fucked up from how we were raised. And you were on pills for twenty-five years that you had no business taking."

"Well, the amnesia did me some good, I guess," Vanya said. "Without the memories of my messed-up childhood and no pills besides aspirin for my headaches, I got to be the person I was supposed to be all along." Vanya sighed, "That and, of course, I didn't have someone constantly trying to remind me of my exclusion or plant false ideas in my head that you all were out to hurt me."

Diego also sighed. There was so much he wished that he had done differently with her. It was people like Peabody for whom Diego could have gone to prison. Diego had always made pizza out of any male person (Diego refused to call such a person a man) who abused women. Had Diego not been so cruel to Vanya, he might have been more attentive to her and incapacitated Peabody before it was too late to to help her. Diego couldn't use the excuse that he was looking for Hazel and Cha-Cha, since he had taken a chunk of time from that to deal with Klaus that one day. He just hoped…well, he wasn't sure if it was appropriate for him to ask her what he wanted to know.

"Did you know that he also killed my orchestra's First Chair, so that I would audition without my medication and get the spot?"

Diego shook his head. "Shit. That bastard was really messed up."

Vanya nodded sadly. "I was so excited that I later went to see him, and we…well, it was our first time."

_ Okay. Now I can ask. _ "Vanya, that wasn't…" Diego felt his face flush. "I mean…."

Vanya smiled and shook her head. "No, my first time was with a guy I briefly dated in college."

_ Thank Christ. _

"When I saw you all during your family meeting, it was because Leonard had tried convincing me to invite you all to my concert," Vanya further explained. "Now I realize that my violin was the weapon and he'd wanted me to destroy you all."

Diego placed his hand on her shoulder. "But you didn't. And now you can control your powers." Diego chuckled as he continued, "You know how we all joined you when you went back to the farm and Five said you owed him one? You sure as hell made up for that a thousand times over when you took out the Commission."

"What changed your minds about coming with me in the first place?" Vanya wondered. 

Diego sighed, not wanting to discuss the current bane of his existence. But Vanya deserved an answer. "It was Klaus. Right after you walked out he looked at me and said, 'What was that about Team Zero?' And he followed you out. That was the one thing he did do right."

"Diego, why are you so upset with Klaus?" Vanya asked him. "Is it because of Ben, or something else?"

Diego sighed again. Of course, he didn't want to talk about Klaus, but if he was going to make her open up to him about things he had to do the same in return. "No. I actually got to talk to Ben, too. When Five had the briefcase with the ninety-minute time limit, I had actually gone to Klaus' compound to get him. When I found Klaus, it turned out that Ben was actually possessing Klaus and he was able to prove himself to me. I told Ben to stay inside Klaus' body so that they both would get there in time. No way that Klaus would have been responsible enough to do it himself. The irony that they did make it there on time while I got kidnapped."

"So, why, then?" Vanya asked again.

"Because I spent thirteen years dealing with his bullshit," Diego said angrily. "I spent thirteen years routinely listening to my police radio hoping that I wouldn't hear of a dead junkie with 'HELLO' and 'GOODBYE' tattoos, or that he was found beaten or raped or something. And I can't count the number of times I got calls from hospitals since I was his emergency contact. I just felt that after Ben died,  _ someone  _ needed to look out for him. Allison was too busy with her career, Luther was trying to become Sir Reginald Hargreeves 2.0 and I know you felt too excluded to know how much help he needed; again, that's not on you. And I tried getting him to go to rehab. Did all I could to help him. Then, by the time we found out about the apocalypse, Klaus was actually trying to get clean, and I was so relieved. When I saw that he was drunk again in Dallas, I knew I couldn't go through all this again. It's time that someone else stepped up to the plate. And yeah, I talked to Ben, but it was really shitty of Klaus to lie to all of us. After all that, I'm done."

Vanya nodded sadly. "I can try to help him---"

"Don't waste your energy. I know that Allison was trying in Dallas, and maybe she still can. And Klaus needs serious help. More help than any of us can give him. I just can't do it anymore."

Vanya quickly changed the subject to the day she had brought Harlan back to life from the drowning. Diego was grateful for this as he did not want to think about how badly Klaus was messing up his life again.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

By the middle of the day Luther found a possible clue leading to Diego about an unnamed twelve-year-old child who had gotten sentenced to juvenile detention for stabbing a schoolmate he had claimed was bullying another child. The teacher who had witnessed this noted the precision in which the knife was thrown from a distance. He gave the name of the referenced school to Allison so that she and Five could later break into that school and locate any type of yearbook or annual from that academic year. 

At six o'clock they all regrouped back at the abandoned farmhouse. Later that night Five and Allison zapped into the school library and did indeed find a familiar face among the class photos. Five then used the briefcase to transport himself and Allison to Culiacàn where all of the state's birth records were stored. Later they were able to present Diego with a name: Antonio Ramirez, born October 1, 1989 to Rosita and Carlos Ramirez.

The following day the siblings (minus Klaus, who was with them physically but was able to score more drugs overnight) found out more about Antonio Ramirez and gave all of the information to Diego that night.

Of course, everyone figured out that Carlos Ramirez had only been listed as the father so to not bring shame to the devout Catholic family. Antonio had remained in juvenile detention until his eighteenth birthday. The siblings had also read numerous articles about the abuse in Mexican juvenile detention centers and figured his alter ego was a victim of such as well.

One more article described how at twenty-two years old, Antonio Ramirez was listed as a wanted person for the murder of someone with an extensive criminal history but whom Ramirez had illegally killed regardless. He was suspected of having escaped to Colombia, but he was never located.

"Jesus," Diego muttered after reading everything. As fucked up as his childhood had been with Sir Reggie, like Allison he had wound up becoming better off being raised by him than in this new timeline. 

The siblings got a good night's sleep (apparently Vanya did as well, since she didn't wake Diego up), and the next morning they got ready to be transported to their next destination: Brisbane, Australia. 


	4. Chapter 4

The siblings appeared within the Brisbane City Botanical Gardens just past midnight Australian Eastern Standard Time (UTC+10) on April Seventh, sixteen hours ahead of Sinaloa's Mountain Daylight Saving Time. Not only would the siblings need to adjust to the time change, but they had also left North American Spring to Australian Fall. Of course, Five was used to consistent world (as well as time) travel and drastic variances in climate; he recalled one day being assigned to a job during the humid summer climate of Orlando, Florida and the next day being sent to McMurdo Station in the middle of its winter. His other siblings, sans Vanya, of course, had traveled to Paris for their infamous Eiffel Tower mission as well as New Delhi, India. Needless to say, Vanya had never traveled outside North America before now; and while Allison did some traveling for film shoots, Klaus went to God-knows-where-all as a cult leader, and Luther obviously spent four years on the moon, Five was certain that between leaving the Umbrella Academy at seventeen and Dallas Diego had rarely ventured outside their home city. Five had no idea whether all of this traveling would fuck up any of his siblings. More than they already were fucked up.

_Of course, so am I._ Not only due to the apocalypse, but since the showdown in the Dallas barn, Five now had to recall _three_ times he saw his siblings dead or in the process of getting killed. 

"Okay, you guys," Five called out after the siblings took a moment to collect their bearings. "We need to find a shelter here as soon as possible. I was able to do more research about here ahead of time, and it turns out that both the library and the Brisbane Registry are close to here."

They walked around the area until they found an abandoned warehouse near the banks of Brisbane River. Five had actually managed to score a flashlight in Mexico, so he turned it on as the siblings sat in a circle at the center of the building. 

"Okay," Five said as he placed the flashlight facing upward in the middle of the circle. "In my case, it’s going to be a bit more challenging, because first off---"

"Of _course_ it’s going to be challenging," Luther interrupted. "With you, things always go sideways."

"Would you shut up and _listen?!_ " Five exclaimed. "First off, along with the five calendar days we’ve been back, my initial arrival into 2019 adds an extra eight days to the length of time that my alter ego, if still alive, would be missing. That and the fact that I probably had a twenty-nine-year-old body instead of this twig of one."

"And what about your _second_ return to 2019?" Luther added.

" _Second_ return?" Allison looked at Luther.

Five sighed and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, that’s the other issue. While the three of you were dealing with Vanya at the FBI building, I had a meeting with my older---well, _younger_ self by fourteen days but in my fifty-eight-year-old body." Five observed the confused glances of the other siblings besides Luther. "I was sent by the Commission to kill John F. Kennedy---"

"You were _what?!_ " Diego quickly sprang to his feet and charged toward Five, who quickly zapped himself to the back of Vanya.

"I _didn’t_ kill him, okay?" Five snapped as Vanya stood up in front of him while Diego ran to them both.

"Diego, _don’t!_ " Vanya stuck her arms outward, shielding Five from his enraged brother.

Knife in hand, Diego glared at Five past Vanya's shoulder for a moment. "Fine," he gritted his teeth and returned to his seat.

"So," Five said as he and Vanya sat back down as well, "Back when I was on my assignment I had what I thought were the necessary calculations for time travel. So that was when I first returned to you all. Because three of you failed to meet up in the alley on time---"

"I’m sorry," Allison said sarcastically. "We all were just a little too occupied at the time. You know, fighting off Swedes, getting tortured by the FBI…." 

"Well, you _would_ have if you’d had immediately left with us rather than tie up loose ends."

"I at least had to say goodbye to my _husband!_ " Allison exclaimed. 

"And I couldn’t just leave Sissy," Vanya argued. "Her asshole of a husband was going to put Harlan in an institution. I wanted both Sissy and Harlan in a society that generally accepts LGBTQ rights and has a wide range of knowledge and services for people on the Spectrum."

"And she wound up not coming with us in the end, anyway," Five bluntly pointed out.

"Shut the fuck up, Five" Diego yelled. "You have no idea what it’s like to be in a real relationship---"

"Says the guy who hooked up with The Handler's daughter," Five snarked.

"Yeah. Says the guy whose only relationship was with an inanimate object, " Diego shot back.

Five jumped to his feet. "Do _not_ talk about Delores like that!"

"Guys!" Vanya exclaimed. "Enough, okay? Five, what were you going to tell us about that day?"

Five sat back down. "Well, as a last resort, Luther and I met up with my old self so that I could give him the correct calculations in exchange for his briefcase."

"And?" Allison wondered.

"Uh, things went a little sideways," Luther muttered.

"A _little_ sideways?" Five glared at Luther. "You and he were plotting to _kill_ me and return to 2019 together!"

" _What?"_ Vanya exclaimed. 

"Well, _both_ of you were dealing with _extreme_ Paradox Psychosis!" Luther reminded Five.

"Okay, that’s the second time you’ve mentioned that," Allison said. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well," Luther explained, "There are seven stages of Paradox Psychosis if a time-traveler comes in close proximity to their other self, ranging from denial, itching and excessive gas to homicidal rage…and you both were definitely well into that last stage. And I can’t exactly say it was too pleasant to hear the two of you farting every five seconds."

Five narrowed his eyes at Luther. "Better than being stuck in an elevator with someone who emits a silent-but-deadly one."

" _Guys!"_ Allison and Vanya exclaimed simultaneously.

"Another pleasantly spectacular family meeting," Klaus muttered his first words since landing in Brisbane.

"Shut up!" Luther and Five snapped at him.

"Look," Luther faced back to the others, "by the time we got to the grassy knoll the two were non-stop arguing, and then they started fighting each other while teleporting all over the place. I finally got hold of the gun and forced the other Five through the portal. Except _that_ almost didn’t happen because right as he had gotten the correct calculations and was ready to jump, I got clocked by that damn fire extinguisher Klaus threw."

"What the hell was up with that anyway, Klaus?!" Five demanded.

Klaus shrugged. "Thought it was a good idea at the time," Klaus murmured spacily, obviously high.

"Yeah, so, the other Five grabbed the briefcase and I had to kick him through, except that he still had the briefcase and the time portal destroyed it," Luther concluded.

"But he made it back, right?" Vanya inquired. 

"Yes, he did," Five said, "but I’m not sure how our interaction affected his --- well, my --- actions after the time jump. Before I had no idea whether I could stop the apocalypse, but this Five knew that we were unsuccessful if we had to come back and solicit his help. That, plus, I don’t know how much of his involvement in 2019 with this knowledge contributed to the timeline we’re stuck with now."

"Uh," Luther uncomfortably cleared his throat. "That’s not all he knew."

Five narrowed his eyes at Luther. "Exactly what are you talking about?"

Luther sighed. "When we were in the restroom---"

"Plotting to kill me."

Luther sighed again. "Anyway, I saw him with the glass eye and told him that was a dead end, and that Vanya caused the apocalypse."

"You did _what?"_ Five yelled at him. "You _idiot!"_

Luther turned to Vanya. "He did say he wanted to make it up to you for being excluded," Luther smiled.

Vanya smiled back before returning her attention back to Five. "Wait. You didn’t have the briefcase when you first came to us, right? And the time portal destroyed it the second time around? And you risked your health and sanity by tracking your other self down. Why wouldn’t you have just waited from a distance for him to jump and then grabbed the briefcase afterward."

There was a pause before Diego chuckled. "Not quite as brilliant as you say you are, Five?"

Five glared at him for a moment, but said nothing. Diego was absolutely right. "Okay. I admit I screwed up. I saw you all dead three times, and I just wanted to save us and the world."

"What do you mean, three times?" Luther inquired suspiciously. "You found our bodies in the apocalypse, and you watched us get nuked on Doomsday."

Five's eyes wandered around the circle for a moment. "In the barn, when Diego was trying to convince Lila we were her true family, The Handler sneaked in and shot all of us. I was the only of us still alive."

"Jesus!" Vanya exclaimed. "What happened, then?"

"Well, The Handler admitted that she authorized the kill order on Lila's parents, but with A.J. Carmichael's stamp," Five explained. "Then The Handler shot and killed her, too."

" _What?!_ " Diego shouted.

"She was about to kill me when the Swede shot her. Then I remembered the advice that the old man gave me about time travel when he spoke with me privately at the restaurant: try seconds instead of decades. So I was able to travel back far enough to intercept The Handler, and you know how it all played out."

"Wait," Diego said. "The Handler wasn’t able to answer Lila in this timeline. How did she react?"

Five looked guiltily at Diego. "She said that we all were right: we were her true family."

Diego angrily clenched his fists. "And I let her go." He quickly shot up and headed toward the exit.

"Diego!" Luther also sprang up to chase after him.

"Back off, Ape Man!" Diego shouted as he headed out the doorway.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Vanya quickly rose to her feet as she sprinted past Luther and out the building herself. "Diego!" She yelled as she ran after him.

"Leave me alone, Vanya!"

Vanya quickly caught up to him. "What, it’s okay to make me pinky swear to talk to you and you won’t do the same in return?"

Diego stopped and then turned to face her, tears running down his face. "I loved her, Vanya. I let her go when she would have accepted us!"

"I know," Vanya said empathetically as she took her brother’s hands.

"I even told Lila how hard it is for me to trust people because of how we grew up," Diego's voice broke. "She was put through more hell than any of us. And she couldn’t bring herself to hurting me."

"At least she’s alive out there somewhere," Vanya pointed out. "And she loves you, too; I believe that. She was just convinced that we were all bad people, just like Leonard did to me. And now he’s probably alive out there, too." She sighed. "At least he doesn’t know me now."

Diego let go of Vanya's hands and wiped his face. "If he is, either he has a different name or doesn’t live in the city. I looked up both Leonard and Harold and checked out where he’d lived before; someone else lives there now."

"Well, whatever's the case, at least I don’t have to deal with him. And I’m sure that Sissy has passed away; she was born in the nineteen-twenties. At least you still have a chance." Vanya smiled as she placed her hand on Diego's arm. "She has a briefcase; who knows, maybe she’ll go to the Commission and see what we’re up to on that Switchboard of Infinity or whatever it’s called."

Diego chuckled. "Infinite Switchboard," he said as he pulled his sister into his arms. "I wish I hadn’t held a grudge against you for so long."

Vanya turned her head to the side as it lay against Diego's chest. "You had every right to."

"I know," Diego hugged her more tightly. "But right now, you’re the only person I really trust."

Vanya felt her own eyes sting out of happiness as she and Diego stood embracing each other under the waning gibbous moonlight.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The six siblings eventually went to sleep on the cemented floor at around four a.m. Sleeping on hard surfaces or while sitting upright was something the siblings were used to, during extended missions…except Vanya. Therefore, Diego had slept sitting against the wall with Vanya's head in his lap. At least Five had quit making snarky comments about it, Vanya thought to herself.

"Okay," Five said after the siblings completed their breakfast that Five had again looted, and was cooked over the flame from the propane tank that Five had stolen in Mexico, leading Vanya to wonder when Five would catch up to Klaus in the number of thefts committed. "I know that Vanya seems to be the popular person to keep company, but I’m sure she’d like a chance to get out more, and I haven’t spent any time alone with Allison since even when I first returned to 2019. Other than breaking into the Mexican records office. Meanwhile, Diego and Vanya can visit Police Headquarters and get the latest Missing Persons report." He handed a copy of the map to Diego. "Just remember that I am probably going to look different."

"No shit, Sherlock!" Diego snarked back.

Five handed another copy to Luther. "Here’s the directions to the library." Five looked at Klaus sitting against the wall muttering to himself, and then he lowered his voice. "Think you can keep an eye on Klaus while finding out whatever you can?"

Luther quickly pulled Five aside and lowered his own angry voice. "I’m really not in the mood to babysit him, and I’m still pretty pissed at him for the shit he pulled in Dallas. I know Diego doesn’t want to be around him, either."

Vanya overheard the conversation and approached her two brothers. "I can go to the library instead."

"I don’t care who goes with whom," Five snapped. "Just get the job done."

Vanya walked over to Klaus, who seemed in his own little world. She held out her hand. "Come on, Klaus."

Klaus looked at her through dilated pupils and took her hand as she helped him up.

"So, Luther doesn’t wanna hang out with me either, right?" Klaus laughed bitterly as the two were walking outside.

"Klaus," Vanya sighed. "I mean, you lied to all of us."

"Oh, yeah, so everyone keeps reminding me. That and I’m a useless junkie," Klaus pulled out his flask and began chugging. "Whereas Luther seems to have completely forgotten about the day he strangled me and then went out and got high himself!"

Vanya stopped to face him. "What?"

"Oh, yeah! After the wonderful family meeting that you walked in on and left pissed, Luther got drunk when he found out about the moon debacle. He wanted me to conjure the old man, but I was just starting withdrawals _again,_ after being forced while I was kidnapped, but I wasn’t clean enough. So he held me up against the wall by my throat and then threw me to the ground."

"Jesus!" Vanya looked at Klaus, horrified. All this time and she had thought she was the only one Luther had harmed.

"Yeah!" Klaus angrily snickered as they resumed walking. "I tried to help him. Tried comforting him. But all he wanted to do was become a Number Four, as he put it." Klaus rolled his eyes and sadly chuckled. "I don’t understand why anyone would want to be me, including my cult followers, other than that I’m sexy trash."

" _Klaus._ "

"No, it’s the truth, and I accept that," Klaus said just a little too casually, which somewhat worried Vanya. "Anyway, I tried stopping him, and he just knocked me across the room."

Vanya remembered their 1963 family reunion when Luther had thrown Five down a flight of stairs after Five had insisted they talk to their former father. And Vanya knew that Luther's reasons for locking her up, besides what she had done to Allison and Luther having no knowledge that it was an accident or of Allison's part in it, was because he’d felt he needed to do the same as Sir Reginald. All of Luther's misdeeds invariably had something to do with their ex-dad. Vanya then recalled another recent conversation with Allison. "Um, Allison said that Luther got high at a rave and brought home another girl. You had blurted it out after you’d failed to prove that you could manifest Ben at the bowling alley."

"Oh, yeah!" Klaus laughed again as he took another swig from his flask. "That’s another splendid story! I was sicker than shit going through withdrawals and Ben pretty much forced me to go find him. He said that if I were in trouble Luther would stop at nothing to help me. Christ on a cracker, was my dear ghost brother ever mistaken. Yeah, Luther was high, the girl thought he was a furry, and before too long I saw her pissed-off boyfriend and someone with a bat go after him."

"Jesus!" Vanya repeated. "And since he was on drugs, he didn’t have his power."

"Exactly! So I jumped on the guy's back, and he threw me to the ground. Next thing I know I’m in the afterlife and God is telling me I have to go back because She doesn’t like me." Klaus sadly snickered. "You know that you’re a royal shitshow of a human being when even God doesn’t like you!"

Vanya stopped again and stared at Klaus, wondering how much of this was actual reality or just a dream; she hoped just the latter, but she wanted to give Klaus the benefit of the doubt. She had failed to believe Five on his first night back, which she knew was a contributing factor to why he mainly had kept the apocalypse to himself; that family meeting from which she had been excluded was five days after.

"That was how I ended up talking to our dear old Daddy," Klaus continued. "I didn’t just conjure him; he gave me a shave while telling me all about my failures in life and that I was his greatest disappointment --- oh, but at least he had the decency to ask if Luther was okay. But that was when he told me that he killed himself hoping that we would all get back together and stop the apocalypse."

So, it was true, since Pogo confirmed it. Vanya's heart sank as that meant that "God" really said those things to Klaus. And Vanya thought that she had hated herself in the original timeline.

"He was getting ready to tell me something important --- about you, I’m sure --- when I came back to life," Klaus said as once again they resumed walking. "If that old bastard wouldn’t have spent the first five minutes verbally assaulting me, I would have found out about you in time." He took one more chug of his flask before placing it in his coat pocket.

"Wait," Vanya said. "Does anyone else know about this? I mean, what happened to you?"

Klaus laughed bitterly. "Of course not. Luther and Diego would just bring up all of the stupid shit I’ve done in my life, and yeah, as you just reminded me, they hate me for lying about Ben!"

"Klaus, why _did_ you lie about that?"

"It doesn’t matter," Klaus said as he pulled out a small baggie containing two pills.

"Klaus," Vanya sadly watched him pop the pills. "Why are you doing this to yourself? Allison said that you were clean for three years. Who was this soldier?"

Klaus held up his hand. "Some other time. It’ll ruin my high." Then he turned to face Vanya's concerned expression. "Don’t worry. I’ll still be able to look up stuff at the library. It’s better this way 'cause withdrawals are a bitch and I have no reason to stay clean anymore. I’d be far less useful if I tried to quit now. Of course, everyone likes to remind me of my uselessness."

"You weren’t useless when you tried to save Luther's life," Vanya pointed out.

"Well, Diego called me an idiot after I saved his."

"Wait. I thought Ben saved Diego's life."

Klaus nodded. "At the mansion. But three days before, I saved his life at the next motel where Hazel and Cha-Cha were staying." Vanya listened to Klaus describe himself and Diego staking Hazel out at Griddy's Doughnuts, following Hazel and Cha-Cha to their motel, and Klaus disobeying Diego's orders to stay in the car resulting in Klaus saving both their lives since Diego's car had also gotten riddled with bullets. "His response? _I still think you’re an idiot. They’re getting away!_ "

"Shit," Vanya murmured. As much as she appreciated Diego now, she could acknowledge that was a pretty shitty thing for him to say.

"Look, Vanya," Klaus said as they turned onto George Street, where the Brisbane Square Library was located. "I know you and Diego are all chummy now, and I know you’re not a thing like Luther and Allison. But don’t say anything to Diego, or Luther, okay? It’ll just cause more problems, and I’ll be glad when we’re done with all of this traveling so I can go out on my own and try to forget that I was ever a Hargreeves sibling."

"Klaus…." Vanya said mournfully as they spotted their destination ahead.

"I know you’re cool with me, Vannie," Klaus flashed what Vanya could tell was a forced smile. "But I have nothing connecting me to the others anymore. We were never blood siblings. Now we’re not even legal siblings anymore."

As they entered the library, Vanya sadly watched Klaus saunter over to the section of microfiche news articles pretending as though he had not a care in the world. The drugs were likely contributing to his pretense, but Vanya knew that Klaus carried some heavy burdens and bore scars of which no one else was aware. And if Klaus did cut himself off from everyone after this was all over, Vanya feared that she would never see him again, and that Klaus might not live much longer, either.

Klaus did indeed prove himself to be useful, despite being high. After several hours Klaus showed Vanya an article which was the greatest lead on Five's identity.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"May I help you?" The middle-aged Australian lady with a desk name tag that read, _Charlotte_ inquired Luther and Diego.

"Uh, yeah," Luther stammered. "We wanted to look at your updated photo list of missing persons in this area."

"Certainly." Charlotte opened up a desk drawer and pulled out a one-inch-thick binder. "Anyone in particular you’re trying to locate?"

"Harold Jenkins," Diego quickly answered, ignoring the surprised glance from Luther.

Charlotte flipped through the pages, and then shook her head. "Nobody with that name; I’m sorry, mate." She handed Luther the book. "So, you’re Americans, I take it? Did you flee your land due to your bloody incompetent drongo of a President?"

Diego chuckled. If only that orange windbag was the greatest of the siblings' problems. "I wish. No, we became close friends with a guy our age during a trip here when we were little. My brother here and I kept in touch with him, and then out of the blue we stopped hearing from him. Our dad just died leaving us with a sweet inheritance which allowed us to travel here. Unfortunately we don’t know any of his family to contact for any info on his whereabouts."

"Our friend is also, should I say, rather unique," Luther added. "If he were missing, it might be under…very unusual circumstances."

Charlotte appeared pensive for a moment. "When did you last communicate with your mate?"

"Oh, it’s been several years," Diego hoped he had left enough of a window in case Five's alter-ego wasn’t just recently declared missing.

"I don’t believe it’s the report I may be thinking of, then."

"What report?" Luther asked Charlotte.

"This was back in…twenty-ought-six, I believe? Perhaps ought-seven. A young lad whose birthday matched that of the forty-three spontaneous 1989 childbirths ran away from home, and his mum claimed he had superpowers and left whilst attempting to travel through time. The officers believed his mum was crazy, of course; but it was a few years later that we had first heard of the Sparrow Academy, which being from the United States yourselves I presume you already had."

Diego rolled his eyes. "You can say that."

"Our friend was also born that day," Luther said.

"But he said as the result of a natural childbirth," Diego lied, in order to not arouse any suspicion.

"What was his name?" Luther asked.

Charlotte thought for a moment. "I do not recall." Then she picked up the telephone receiver and punched in several numbers. "Sergeant Walker, can you please refresh my memory with the name of the lad whose mum claimed he traveled through time? From twelve or thirteen years ago?" After a moment she wrote on a pad. "Thank you, Sergeant." She tore off the piece of paper and handed it to Luther. He and Diego read the name, _Jeremy Campbell._

A quick flip through some pages revealed the answer the two former-Hargreeves brothers wanted. Aside from appropriate aging, the face in the photo was undoubtedly that of Number Five. Diego sucked in a breath as he read: _Missing since 10/17/2006._ "Shit," he and Luther both muttered in unison.

The same day that Ben died.

"Was this your mate?" Charlotte inquired. 

"Uh, no," Diego answered as a quick save. "Our other brother was killed that day. They’re not connected…" Diego was technically speaking the truth since Five had disappeared nearly four years earlier, "...but can we get a copy of this? If we find our friend, I wanna find out if they knew each other."

"Certainly." Charlotte went to the copying machine and handed the duplicate page to Diego, who folded it up and inserted into his pants pocket. "I hope you’re able to locate your mate."

"Thank you," Diego and Luther said as they opened the lobby door. Once outside, the two brothers headed to the library to retrieve the other two siblings. Despite what Vanya and Klaus might have found (okay, Vanya, Diego presumed), their work was done for the day.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Okay, Five," Diego said after he, Luther, Klaus and Vanya entered the warehouse. "Allison's luck seems to have rubbed off on you." He handed Five the newspaper article copy from the library. "You won’t have to break into the records office."

Five read the headline: _POLICE IN SEARCH OF TEEN MISSING SINCE TUESDAY,_ dated Thursday, October 19, 2006. And the picture of said missing teen looked just like him at that age, with the exception of the long hair and beginning stages of the beard he’d had no choice but to sport in the apocalypse. He quickly read the article which depicted his mother’s claim that her son Jeremy was attempting to travel through time, and she feared he would not survive in another time of his own as he had never learned to take care of himself. According to the article, unlike the insane amount of training by Sir Reginald which had afforded Five the necessary survival skills in the apocalypse, Jeremy's mother had gone the opposite route of coddling and sheltering him. "So, if I jumped forward and got stuck like before, I wouldn’t have made it in the apocalypse," Five concluded. He then looked at Vanya. "Good job, sis."

"Thank Klaus," Vanya said. "He found the article."

"Son of a bitch!" Five stared at Klaus, bewildered. "Thanks."

Klaus nodded and waved his "GOODBYE" hand.

Diego then handed Five the copy of the missing persons report.

"Shit," Five exclaimed as he scanned the report. "That was the same day…."

"...that Ben died," Diego responded sadly.

After taking a few minutes to process the information, Five looked at his watch. "Okay, it’s only three-fifteen here now. Luther's next on the list, and Leicestershire is currently nine hours behind us. If we get there now, it will be first thing in the morning."

"Wait, Five!" Diego interrupted. "Let’s get some sleep first. That, plus, Luther and I passed a church when we were on our way to get the others, and tomorrow they’re having a free clothing drive. I don’t know about you, but I sure as hell would like to get out of these clothes."

Five looked down at the same uniform he had been wearing for _two weeks_ now. "You’re right. Time for me to get out of this damn uniform which means nothing now, anyway."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Klaus was relieved after he sneaked out later that evening and discovered via a nearby phone directory that there was a gay bar just 1.8 kilometres (a little over a mile) from their shelter. Therefore, he had plenty of time to entertain, get tips, and spend his Australian currency on drugs; he even managed to get to a liquor store before its midnight closing time.

The following day the siblings managed to score at least a couple of outfits each, and the church gave them vouchers for new underwear, soap and shampoo from the Big W department store. Additionally, they were able to procure blankets; and the best part was that they were also given two standard-sized backpacks and an ALICE pack, all of within everything fit.

At two in the afternoon Australian Eastern Time, Luther stood with the ALICE pack strapped to his back while Allison and Vanya carried the regular packs, and the six siblings got ready to transport to Jolly Old England.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, so all of these fantabulous comments is motivating me to spend what is probably an unhealthy amount of time updating this story. I do want to take my time since this is my first time writing a fic that is mostly based outside the United States (and like Vanya before, I have never traveled outside North America, either) and want to ensure that I portray each country's city or town relatively accurately. (Especially since I received a comment from someone in Munich, Germany as well as Norfolk, Virginia!)
> 
> I originally hadn’t planned to start the interaction between Klaus and Vanya quite this soon, but I’ve decided to change some things in this chapter to allow the two the opportunity to start talking. Klaus is unfortunately going to suffer for a bit longer but I at least want him to realize that **_someone_** is validating him.
> 
> Diego also has deeper issues with Klaus that do not necessarily denote resentment. More shall be revealed.
> 
> Next chapter includes a conversation between Klaus and Allison. Although she made the mistake of enabling Klaus, she otherwise helped him more than any of the other siblings this season. (Vanya is excused in canon since due to her memory loss she likely wasn’t fully aware of the depths of his addiction.)


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay! Had some life stuff happen, but here you go!

After arriving in Coalville Park at five a.m. British Summer Time and finding shelter in an abandoned church (that had several pews!) the siblings rested for several hours. Obviously, no public service buildings would be open yet, and Luther knew that all of this traveling and jumping time zones and even hemispheres had to be taking a toll on his siblings.

At nine a.m., Five routed the siblings and placed on one of the pews two copies of directions to the Coalville Library. "So, who's staying with you today?"

Luther looked at Diego, who was suspiciously eyeing him and Allison with ever such the slightest smirk. And Luther did want Allison, of course; but he knew that he'd be setting himself up for disappointment. After all, he threw that fight because he couldn't deal with her being married. And she happily had been and needed time to heal. Besides, he had already had quite a bit of interaction with Allison in Dallas. And, of course, he was able to comfort her the other night. 

So, he turned to Vanya. "How about it?"

Vanya shrugged. "Sure."

Five chuckled to Vanya, "You're certainly a popular person."

Luther sighed, "And you have such great tact, Five."

"No, Five has a point," Diego argued. "Vanya's the one who hadn't been outside North America before we started this."

"Guys, it's fine," Vanya said, as Luther noticed Allison smile warmly at her. Whether Allison was relieved, or simply didn't care one way or another, Luther was grateful, regardless. Vanya continued, "Besides, I already got to see Brisbane."

"We'll take a walk around the town after we all get back later," Diego offered to her.

Vanya smiled at him. "Okay."

Diego and Allison each grabbed a map copy as Klaus followed, while Five did his usual literal disappearing act.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"I'll see you guys there," Diego said after they got outside, and he began running. Klaus sighed, knowing that Diego was just avoiding him.

Allison had apparently heard the sigh. "Are you okay?" She asked as they started down the street themselves. 

"Yeah, I'm fine," Klaus lied as he took a chug from his flask and then put it back in his pants pocket, avoiding the disappointing look that Allison was probably giving him.

They were quiet for a couple of minutes as they continued walking. Then Allison said, "Look, Klaus, I'm sorry for giving you such a hard time the other night---"

"No, don't be. You were right to be mad at me. I was a selfish asshole. That's all I am."

"Klaus, I'm just worried about you. What you're doing to yourself again."

_ So that's why you're apologizing to me, _ he thought.  _ You just feel sorry for me. _ "Oh, don't worry, dear sis. I'm fantabulous!"

Allison was quiet for another moment. "I feel partially responsible for this. I shouldn't have enabled you."

_ Well, there goes that wonderful memory of the three of us hanging out in the salon. _

"That, plus, what the hell happened to you that night at the supper?"

Of course, his spectacular performance because Ben was briefly possessing him. Something else nobody needed to know --- that Ben was trying to join in the "family" conversation. "Oh, just an internal conflict."

Allison sighed. "I love you, Klaus, but I really don't understand you."

_ Of course. Nobody does. _ Klaus couldn't wait until this was all over, which at this rate would be less than a week, if not just a couple more days. Then he wouldn't have to be a burden to his siblings --- or likely ex-siblings --- any longer.

He should have just stayed in Dallas. His cult might have been clingy, but at least they appreciated him. Of course, he was just a fraud in that sense; and he had screwed up so many lives, albeit unintentionally. Still, he would never forgive himself for that. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"I really hope you don't mind staying," Luther said to Vanya after the others left.

"No, of course not." Vanya had already figured out that he was giving Allison space.

"It's just, Allison," Luther confirmed, "and I don't think I could stand being around any of the guys for too long. Five and Diego wouldn't want to hang out here all day, and right now Klaus is useless."

Vanya cringed, trying not to show it, but remembering her conversation with Klaus which included his demands not to tell Luther. "Try not to be too hard on him. I mean, I know you're angry about Ben; and I have no room to give advice for obvious reasons---"

"Well, also, he's been going out and getting high every night while the rest of us are working hard to find out our true identities. And he's been getting a lot weirder than before. Especially when we were in Dallas."

Vanya then recalled that supper at their "father's," which had already been all sorts of wrong. "Yeah, that episode at the table was pretty odd," she admitted.

"Well, that and the next day when he met up with me and Five in the alley, he had another episode. Only this time he puked his guts out. It was pretty disgusting."

Vanya stared at Luther. "Really." Then a thought occurred to her; she recalled Diego saying how Ben had possessed Klaus that day and Diego had told Ben not to leave until they got to the alley. Then she remembered Klaus being in the elevator the night before mumbling about being possessed. Other than being tipsy Klaus had been fine before his episode; he could barely move after that, and it had lasted only a few seconds then. _ That's probably why he never said anything, _ she realized to herself.

"Anyway," Luther quickly changed the subject, "Wonder what we'll find out about myself."

Vanya chuckled back. "Yeah, I wonder."

Vanya knew now that she needed to get to the bottom of this with Klaus whenever the opportunity would present itself again. And she was overall concerned about Klaus not just because of his substance abuse, but how he felt about himself in general.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Diego thumbed through the high school yearbook and soon discovered a photo of a young man in the Key Stage 5 section (roughly equivalent to high school junior/Grade Eleven in the United States and Canada).

"Well," a male voice nearly made Diego jump out of his skin. He turned to face a man appearing to be his age. "Were you a fellow schoolmate, by chance?"

"Uh, no," Diego said as he tried to compose himself.

"Ah, you must be from America."

"Yeah," Diego said. "I'm trying to find a childhood friend from this school; I lost contact, but I just found his picture."

The man looked suspiciously apprehensive as he inquired, "Might I ask his name?"

"Liam Davies."

"Oh, bloody hell!"

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Jesus!" Luther exclaimed after Diego had explained later that afternoon that during a school rugby union game that Luther's alter ego had too aggressively tackled an opponent, instantly killing him. After having to serve time for involuntary manslaughter, Liam had developed a drinking problem and was killed in a DUI accident. "Well, so far, all of us were more fucked up than being raised in the Umbrella Academy."

"Yeah," Vanya agreed. "And now I'm next in learning about myself."

"Well, Moscow hasn't blown up yet," Five blurted out.

Vanya stopped for a moment and glared at Five. "Fuck you," she said bitterly before tearing out of the church.

Diego, too, glared at him. "Five, you really are an asshole." He quickly ran out and found Vanya standing at the edge of the property. "Hey," he put his hand on her shoulder. "He's an asshole, okay?" He saw her blink back tears. "Come on, sis, let's do that walk."

A poof and Five appeared. "Vanya, I'm sorry. Once again."

Vanya gave him another cold stare. "Are you  _ really  _ sorry, or are you just afraid I'm going to end the world again?"

"We're going out," Diego said angrily to him. "We'll be back in a few hours, and then we'll head to Russia."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

He was grateful that it didn't take long for her to cheer up and enjoy the town. Diego was  _ not _ afraid of Vanya blowing up the world, especially since he could see Vanya was building bonds with others as well as him. He was much more concerned about her nightmares and her overall ability to forgive herself.

They returned at seven and then everyone jumped two hours ahead to Moscow. It took an hour-and-a-half for them to find a house with a  _ For Rent _ sign. After Five did his usual of casing the place and letting the others in, the siblings spread out, covered themselves up and went to sleep.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

_ "You're weak!" _

_ "Stop it!" _

_ "Nothing!" _

_ "Stop it!" _

_ "Ordinary!" _

_ "STOP!" _

_ "ORDINARY!!!" _

_ "Vanya?" _

_ Vanya turned to her side and saw Allison, slashed throat and all, and let out a blood-curdling scream. _

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The others quickly ran into Vanya and Allison's room right as Allison was shaking her screaming sister awake. "Vanya! It's okay! It's okay! You were just having a nightmare! It's okay! You're okay!"

Vanya's breath hitched as her eyes darted around the room.

"It's okay," Allison said more quietly as tears continued to run down Vanya's face.

"No, it's not!" Vanya cried as Allison cupped her sister's face in her hands.

Diego quickly ran and sat on Vanya's other side and gently began rubbing her back. "Shhhhh," he whispered soothingly as he pulled her into his embrace while Allison slowly backed away. As Diego held his trembling sobbing sister he looked at Allison, and then at Luther and Five standing in the doorway. "She's been having these since we got back to 2019."

Allison stared at them for a moment longer before a knowing glance appeared on her face. "Is this about…?"

Diego nodded. He watched the brothers slowly step out as Diego continued holding his sister, rocking her gently.

"Vanya…." Allison whispered mournfully.

Vanya pulled away. "Allison, I'm---"

"Hey, hey, hey," Allison pulled her sister into her arms. "I never blamed you, sis," she said softly. "And I'm okay; I got my voice back. This was  _ not _ your fault." Allison pulled away to face her sister and stroking Vanya's hair. "You are  _ not _ that person anymore. And you saved our lives, remember? You saved all of our lives."

Diego began rubbing Vanya's back again. "She's right." As Allison again brought her into an embrace, Diego quietly said, "I'll leave you two alone."

He walked out to the hallway to where Luther and Five were standing. "Is she going to be okay?" Luther asked. 

Diego nodded. "I think so."

Five sighed guiltily. "I really have  _ not _ been helping things. I'll try to do better." Then his look of guilt quickly turned to puzzlement. He marched down the hallway and after doing a quick check of the other rooms, he turned to face his brothers. "Well, guess who's not here right now."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

When they got up the next morning, Klaus was passed out with an empty Vodka bottle by his side.

"Well, we're going to be down one person," Five said in his usual tone. "Someone is going to have to stay with him  _ and _ Vanya."

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things will look up for Klaus before too long.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For clarification, I'm using these quotation marks 《...》 for words spoken in Russian but translated to English.

"How are you feeling?" Diego sat down on the carpet next to Vanya and leaned against the wall in the living room after Five, Luther and Allison had left. Klaus was, of course, still passed out in the one bedroom. 

"Okay, I guess," Vanya wearily sighed. "We talked for a while. I felt better after I did."

Diego smiled at her.

She looked at him and returned the smile. "So, I wonder what they'll find out about me. I mean, in the original timeline I was already doing very unchildlike things as early as four years old."

"Hey." Diego placed his hand on her forearm. "Remember, that's not who you are any longer."

Vanya beamed warmly at him. "I know."

Diego then looked at the ALICE pack straight ahead. "I need to get something to drink. You need anything?"

Vanya nodded. "Yeah, an iced tea, please. Thanks."

Diego fished through the pack and grabbed a tea and a Gatorade. As he turned to walk back, he saw that Vanya was asleep, still leaned against the wall. He quietly placed the drinks down beside her and went to her room to retrieve her blanket. He gently draped it over her, but then she woke back up. "I'm sorry," she said sleepily as she opened her tea.

"Hey, it's okay." He sat back down beside her and observed her take several gulps before reapplying the bottle cap. As she placed the tea back on the floor, her eyelids began drooping again.

Diego pulled her to his lap. "Get some rest, okay? We'll do the Martial Arts training this afternoon."

Vanya was already back asleep. Diego adjusted her blanket and very gently stroked her hair; she didn't budge. Hopefully this would help her feel safe enough to prevent any nightmares.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"So, do you think Vanya is okay?" Luther asked Allison as they walked down the street from their shelter. Five, of course, had disappeared as always.

Allison sighed. "I hope so. We talked about a lot of things. I told her about Claire, and Patrick, and she seemed to understand. I think she also understands how much both you and I played a part in her downfall. That, plus how Leonard conned her, including forcing her to go cold-turkey off her meds." She thought back to how Vanya had mentioned her missing refill the day after Allison had caught Leonard in the apartment, and she had never given it a second thought. She had assumed he was trying to find out as much out about Vanya as possible like any stalker with their obsession, but of course he already had that information and the Umbrella Academy were his actual targets.

"How _did_ Leonard find out all of this, anyway?" Luther asked. "He would have known her resentments against us in her autobiography, but not about her powers."

"Leonard had the journal. Remember how we caught Klaus looting stuff in the study?"

Luther groaned. "That idiot."

"Yeah, Diego said he'd noticed a bunch of garbage bags by the dumpster," Allison continued. "He figured it was in a box that Klaus wanted to pawn so he threw it away, and that Pogo was on to Klaus so he'd gone looking for it."

Luther chuckled. "That would've been fun to see." Allison smiled back. Then he asked, "How long _did_ it take to get your voice back? You never told me."

"It took about a year. But I'm actually grateful, because everything I'd had at that point, I'd earned. And I'd wanted to do things right that time."

"What prompted you to start using it again?" Luther inquired. "Was it with Diego? Which was brilliant, by the way."

Allison laughed before getting back to the subject of that awful riot, leaving out the part of Ray having already been suspicious due to meeting Luther and Klaus earlier that day. "The cops were beating him with their sticks, and I had to do it. But then Ray thought I was a mole since a cop wouldn't have just walked away from a black person in those times."

"Yeah, but as you said, you had to do it."

Allison sighed. "But then, when Vanya said she was going to be honest with Sissy about her feelings since the world was ending, that was when I decided to tell Ray who I am. He wanted proof, so we went into a clothing store which only let whites try things on and I rumored the clerk and we each got an outfit." She chuckled before continuing somberly about what happened at Stadler's right after. "Ray kept telling me to stop, but all I could think of was revenge. Once Ray got me out of there I realized that I was abusing my power like I used to. And that was when I think I finally understood that there's a time and place for us to use our powers. I needed to use it with the Swedes, and I may have to use it during our investigation; but not for revenge or because I simply want something to go my way."

Luther nodded and the two walked in silence for a few moments before he stopped and turned to face her. "Can I ask you a question?"

Allison had a feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach. She knew where this was going.

"Did you ever use your power on me?"

Allison then couldn't find herself to face him. She slowly dropped her gaze as she tried to think of what to say.

"You won't hurt my feelings if you did," Luther gently urged her.

Allison slowly lifted her eyes back up to meet his. She nodded. "When we were thirteen. I'm sorry, Luther," she whispered.

Luther gave her a reassuring smile. "It's okay. To be honest, I've always wondered."

Silence loomed between them for a few moments. "We're always going to be family." Then she took his hands. "You're my best friend, Luther. I want us to be able to tell each other everything like we used to."

Tears filled up in Luther's eyes. "I want that too, Allison."

The two exchanged a hug, and then they moved along.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Well, about time you two showed up," Five snarkily whispered when Luther and Allison found him at the library's microfiche filing cabinets.

"When I'm able to teleport, I'll let you know," Luther shot back in equal tone and volume.

"So, what should we do?" Allison pretended to ignore their exchange of sarcasm. 

Five waved at the cabinets. "This is our only other option right now. I went through every school yearbook and nada; so either her family moved, she was homeschooled, or the worst-case scenario. So, now I'm only going through the first five years of articles. I'm on 1992. Luther, take '93; Allison, '94. If we can't find anything, we may have to resort to to visiting every indoor swim center and ask if anyone recalls someone giving birth there in 1989 and somehow finding out the woman's name, possibly even have Allison rumor them into giving us said name; then hopefully we can find Vanya's birth certificate by surname at the registry office."

It took only fifteen minutes before Allison leaned back and whispered, "Guys," to Luther next to her and Five one booth over. They each popped up and gathered behind her to read the Russian article published 19 January, 1994.

**_Moscow Woman who Killed Mother, Daughter, Ruled Mentally Incompetent to Stand Trial_ **

_Moscow City Court Judge Sergey Kuzmin ruled on Tuesday that Tatiana Belova is mentally incompetent to stand trial._

_Belova, 20, contacted Moscow Police on 14 December, 1993, indicating that she killed her four-year-old daughter Nadia, after Nadia had emitted a telekinetic energy which threw Belova's mother, Vera Belova, 45, against a kitchen wall, and telepathically threatened the same action to Belova. No eyewitnesses were present._

_During the preliminary hearing, Belova's father, Alexei Belov, and Belova's aunt, Kira Chernova, both stated that Nadia had displayed exemplary behavior prior to the incident. Present in the courtroom, Belova's demeanor appeared melancholy and disoriented. Judge Kuzmin took these accounts into consideration when making his ruling._

_Belova will be transferred to Serbsky Center, where she will remain until restored to sanity._

"Telepathically?" Luther jerked back his head. 

"Holy shit," Five whispered, astonished. "What the hell is she capable of?"

"I know, right?" Allison turned to the guys.

"Do you think her mother's still there?" Luther wondered. "I mean, is this asylum even in Moscow?"

"Let's find out," Five said in his usual I'm-better-than-you tone.

Two minutes through a phone book confirmed they were correct.

"We need to somehow find out," Allison told the guys as they stood outside the library entrance. "Vanya's going to want to know about her mom."

They were silent for a few moments until Five's face lit up. "I have an idea."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Vanya slept for two hours, Diego had told her, and she felt much better. Diego claimed not to have minded having nothing to do besides stare at blank walls for that long.

Throughout the day, Klaus had retreated in his bedroom. Vanya checked on him a couple of times; the first time he was sleeping, and the second time he was a bit hungover but said he was okay. She knew he was avoiding Diego, figuring that the latter was angry for him getting too drunk to contribute to the family's activities. 

Vanya and Diego had just completed their second round of Martial Arts training when Five zapped right into Diego, nearly knocking him over.

"Goddamnit, Five! Can't you come in like a normal person?" Diego shouted.

"'Five' and 'normal' have never gone together," Vanya laughed.

Moments later Luther and Allison entered the doorway. 

"So?" Vanya looked at the three of them, afraid of what they might have learned about her alter ego.

"Well, we learned something interesting about you," Five handed Vanya a news article while Luther pounded on Klaus' bedroom door. As Klaus stumbled out, Vanya and Diego read the article about her mother killing her at four years old after Vanya's alter ego had killed her grandmother in a temper tantrum; that, and apparently, telepathy was among Vanya's powers.

"Holy shit," Vanya sat back in shock. "Well, it doesn't surprise me that I killed my grandmother. In the original timeline, I actually killed several nannies when we were four."

Allison's eyes popped out. "Um, _what?!_ "

Luther nodded uncomfortably. "Um, she's right."

Vanya eyed all of her siblings. "Yeah. All because they tried forcing me to eat my damn oatmeal." Vanya observed her siblings' confused glances before continuing, "I _hate_ oatmeal, all right? And the first nanny sang some sort of annoying French song while waving the spoon in front of my mouth, while at the same time the teapot whistled; that was what set me off. Funny thing is, our father just reacted by scolding me for throwing a temper tantrum, just like any four-year-old."

"Jesus, what a sick bastard," Five muttered. 

"So, after several nannies, that was why our father built Mom," Vanya explained. She then looked guiltily at Diego, knowing he would not want to hear how Vanya had initially mistreated her. "Um, when she tried to get me to eat my oatmeal, I did the same to her. Only that I succeeded turning her head around one-eighty degrees; she turned her head back around and said, 'Let's try this again.'" Vanya kept her glaze on Diego, hoping that he wouldn't go back to hating her again. "I not only ate my oatmeal; I even licked the damn bowl. And she was Mom to me after that."

Diego stared back at Vanya, and then he smiled. "So, you were the reason we got Mom. Pretty cool."

Vanya smacked Diego on his upper arm. "What the hell is wrong with you?" She laughed. "I killed several nannies!" Then she looked more seriously at her three siblings who had been out that day. "Did you guys find out anything about my mother? Whether she's still in the asylum?"

Luther nodded. "Yeah, I talked to a TV reporter who's been covering this story from the beginning. She's still in Serbsky Center, and from what I've gathered from the stories about her," Luther paused and took a deep breath, "I think what she did to you broke her. That plus the meds she was on to supposedly restore her to sanity."

"When she was never sick in the first place," Vanya concluded, again eyeing her siblings around the room. "She needs to know that this wasn't her fault. She was only trying to protect herself."

"We knew that was probably what you would think," Five chimed in. "That's why while Luther was at the TV station, Allison and I went to the asylum; Allison was able to rumor the receptionist to give us the room number of your mother, and then she rumored the receptionist to forget she ever saw us afterward. Bedtime there is at nine o'clock, so if you want to put your telepathy to use, Allison and I are willing to get you there to try and communicate with her."

Vanya sat and pondered the possibility for a moment. "I want to, but this is another new power to me. I don't want to abuse it."

"Vanya," Allison knelt down before her sister and took her hands. "I know all about abusing powers; it cost me my relationship with my first husband and my daughter. You know that, too. But you're much more mentally stable now as compared to the first timeline. I really think that you'll do okay."

"I second that," Diego said. "As long as this is what you want."

Vanya looked at Diego, and then Allison, and then the remainder of her siblings. "I do."

"Okay, then," Five declared. "We have almost three hours, so I'm getting us more supplies." With that, he zapped away.

"I need to get some rest," Allison said as she headed toward one of the bedrooms. 

"Allison…" Vanya said guiltily, knowing that Allison's fatigue was due to her staying up and talking with Vanya the night before. 

Allison quickly pulled Vanya into an embrace. "Don't worry about it, sis, okay? I just want you to be okay."

"I am. I promise." Vanya held her sister tightly before Allison retreated to the bedroom.

"Well, I'm going for a run." Luther turned to Diego. "Want to join me?"

Diego nodded, and he kissed Vanya on the top of her head. "If I don't see you when you guys leave, good luck, okay?"

Vanya smiled and nodded at Diego before he left with Luther, leaving her alone with Klaus.

"Well, I'm out," Klaus said as he stumbled toward the door.

Vanya rushed toward him and grabbed him by the arms. "Klaus, again?"

Klaus sighed. "Look, I just need one more drink 'til we get to Germany. Withdrawals are a bitch, and once we find out about me it's not going to matter anymore."

Vanya felt a sickness at the pit of her stomach regarding Klaus' statement. "What do you mean?"

Klaus waved his _GOODBYE_ hand at her. "Nothing. I just need to get a drink." He turned heel and Vanya sadly watched him dart out the door.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Luther and Diego returned right before nine p.m., right as Vanya was preparing to transport with Five and Allison to the asylum. Of course, the first thing Luther noticed was yet again the absence of a certain sibling. "Where the hell is Klaus?" He eyed Vanya.

Vanya paused for a moment. She sighed and said, "He went to get more alcohol."

Luther was frustrated. "Why didn't you try stopping him?'

"This isn't on her," Diego retorted. "It's not her job to babysit him; or anyone's job, for that matter!"

"So, are we ready?" Five ignored the argument as he stood between Vanya and Allison, both of whom nodded. Five held their hands as they poofed away.

Fifteen minutes later Klaus stumbled through the front door with a nearly empty fifth of Vodka in his hand.

"Seriously, Klaus?" Luther snapped at him.

"Oh, what?" Klaus slurred drunkenly. "You know that I couldn't visit Russia and not have Vodka!"

Luther watched Diego charge toward Klaus and grab the bottle, smashing it against the wall. "You know, you're a real asshole, you know that?! While the rest of us are finding out about ourselves, you've done nothing but get high and drunk, and I'm _sick_ of this!"

"Well, don't worry!" Klaus shot back. "After Germany, you won't have to deal with me any longer, okay?!"

Before Luther could intervene, Diego grabbed Klaus by the collar and held him against the wall. "Do _not_ play this game with me!"

"Go ahead and choke me! You're not the first---"

"Shut _up!_ " Diego yelled back, while Luther felt a pang of guilt in his stomach, remembering what he had done to Klaus in the original timeline. "I'm so sick of your bullshit, making excuses!" Diego continued shouting to Klaus. 

"Guys!" Luther exclaimed. "Look, both of you calm down, all right?"

Diego stared at Klaus for another moment before letting go of Klaus' collar. "You should've stayed wherever you time-traveled the first time."

" _Fuck_ you!" Klaus screamed as he shoved Diego, and then Diego punched Klaus in the face. The two stared at each other for a moment, and then Klaus ran to the bedroom and slammed the door.

"Diego…." Luther stared at his brother, not quite sure what to say.

Diego held up his hand. "I need time to myself. I'll be back in an hour." With that, he took off out the front door. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Vanya observed the woman lying on her back on the bed in her hospital room. She looked the same as Vanya's flashbacks of her mother when Vanya was born, except with graying hair and a few wrinkles, and emotionless as her mother stared through glassy eyes at the ceiling. Vanya carefully sat down at the edge of the bed, while Five and Allison stood by the door, in case Allison had to rumor any staff to forget that they were here. Vanya slowly took Tatiana's hand. 《 _Mother_?》 She spoke in Russian. 

Tatiana didn't budge. Vanya held on to her mother's hand, and Vanya's eyes glowed white. 《 _Can I talk to you? Please?_ 》

Tatiana's eyes also glowed white as she looked at Vanya and then slowly sat up in her bed. 《 _Nadia_.》

Vanya then took her mother's other hand and smiled. 《 _Yes. I'm your daughter. But my name's now Vanya._ 》

Tatiana's white eyes grew wider as her jaw dropped. 《 _But...how?_ 》

《 _I'm from another timeline,_ 》 Vanya continued speaking in Russian. 《 _Can I show you where I've been?_ 》

Tatiana slowly nodded. Vanya closed her eyes and held her mother's hands more tightly while all of Vanya's memories of her upbringing and adult life passed through to her mother.

"Oh, Vanya," Tatiana exclaimed in English. "What you went through…."

"It's okay, Mother," Vanya responded back in English. "All of my siblings love me. And I'm happy, other than dealing with a breakup from the sixties."

"Vanya, what I did to you before," Tears welled up in Tatiana's eyes. "I'm so---"

"Forget it," Vanya smiled back at her mother. "You had to protect yourself."

Tatiana smiled at her daughter. "I'm glad that you're happy."

Vanya squeezed her mother's hands more tightly. "Then, please, forgive yourself for what you did back then. You were protecting yourself. I got angry and lost control. I'm learning to forgive myself, too." Vanya turned and looked at Allison, who was becoming teary-eyed herself. Then Vanya turned back to her mother. "I love you."

Tatiana smiled back. "I love you, too."

Vanya helped slowly guide her mother back into a lying position. Then she let go of Tatiana's hands. Tatiana then went back into her catatonic state, but her eyes were still a little brighter than before. 

Vanya turned to Five and Allison. "Okay, I think we're done."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The three siblings zapped back to their Russian hideout. Allison could definitely notice the tension as Luther got a drunken Klaus from the bedroom while Diego sat bitterly on the other end of the living room until it was time to transport to Germany. 

As the siblings walked down the Munich streets, Allison quietly asked Luther, "What's going on? What did we miss while we were gone?"

Luther sighed, "We have a situation."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The siblings were able to find a vacant home which actually had several mattresses spread out. Vanya took the king-sized mattress in one room and Diego followed her in, only to find out from Vanya how her visit with her mom went.

"Diego, did something happen while we were gone?" She asked after they had settled in. "I could tell that things were really tense between the three of you."

Diego sighed. "Klaus and I got into it. Look, I really don't want to talk about it right now. I promise you that I will, but I need time to process some things; and I really just want to hear about how things went at the hospital."

As Vanya described her evening with Diego, she knew that she would eventually need to have a conversation with both Diego and Klaus. She needed to get to the bottom of what Diego's problems were with Klaus, as well as what Klaus' problems truly were. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, this is a pretty rough chapter, but after this things will improve between the two brothers. We're in Germany, after all!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, two chapters in one day. I've put you guys through enough. Time for some brotherly bonding. 
> 
> This is where the suicide tags apply. Tread carefully!

The next morning Vanya announced that she would stay with Klaus while the others did their research on his former self.

"Okay," Five said to Luther, Diego and Allison as they gathered outdoors. "Munich has several libraries throughout the city." He handed Luther a copy of a map. "This is the library closest to where we're staying." He then started to hand Diego another map. "This library is just about a mile further---"

"Look, guys," Diego interrupted Five, "I'm really not up to dealing with this today."

"Are you _kidding_ me?" Five exclaimed.

"Look, you guys. I just really need some time to myself today," Diego said.

Luther exchanged glances with Five and Allison. "Whatever's going on between you guys, this needs to be worked out."

"I know," Diego sighed. "I just need time to think."

Allison laid a hand on his arm. "Just be back here when we give him whatever we find out. You said it yourself that we have to be here to support the person getting the news."

Diego stared back at Allison before reluctantly answering, "Fine."

Five zapped away as Luther and Allison walked off together. Diego walked in the opposite direction of them, toward the Isar River. He soon found himself sitting on an abandoned railroad trestle overlooking the river.

_Klaus is just a junkie,_ Diego tried convincing himself. _You're doing the right thing. You can't put yourself through this again._ He pushed back the other thoughts that tried to invade his mind.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Welp. I'm outta here," Klaus mumbled as he headed toward the front door. 

"No!" Vanya shot up from the mattress where she was sitting in the common area and sprinted toward him. She stood in front of Klaus and exclaimed, "You are _not_ leaving until everyone comes back, and if you try to leave I _will_ use my power on you!"

Klaus stared at Vanya for a moment.

"Now, sit back down with me," Vanya pointed toward the mattress, "because you and I need to talk." She took Klaus' hand and led him back over. After they both sat down, Vanya said more gently, "Please talk to me, Klaus. What is going on with you?'

Klaus laughed and rolled his eyes. "What, Diego didn't tell you about our showdown last night?"

Vanya shook her head. "He didn't say much of anything, other that you got into it and I have no idea what he meant by that."

Klaus again snickered sarcastically. "Oh, just the fact that he punched me."

"Jesus," Vanya's eyes widened. "Why would he do that?"

"'Cause I shoved him after he said I should've stayed where I time-traveled the first time around."

"What do you mean?"

Klaus laughed again. "What, nobody told you? When I escaped from Hazel and Cha-Cha, I took their briefcase. I'd figured there was money in it, or I could pawn it. So I opened it. Next thing I knew, I was in the middle of the A Shau Valley during the fucking Vietnam War."

"Jesus!" Vanya exclaimed. 

"Yeah. And immediately I met Dave. A twenty-three-year-old soldier who didn't know he was gay until he met me." Klaus sighed as a tear rolled down his face. "We professed our love to each other while we were on leave in Saigon."

Vanya placed her hand on Klaus' arm. "What happened?" She asked softly. 

"He died in my arms, ten months later," Klaus' voice broke. 

"Jesus, Klaus! _Ten months?!_ "

"Well, being with Dave, even on the front lines, was a lot better than being with a family who didn't give a shit about me!" Klaus cried. "I was stuck with Hazel and Cha-Cha for twenty-four hours before Diego's cop friend found me, because nobody knew that I was gone! Oh, and even better, once I got back I destroyed the briefcase because I didn't know any better; Dave had just died in my arms an hour before. And Five just gave me shit for destroying it. He didn't give a fuck where I'd been or what happened, even though I was blatantly not my usual charming self." Klaus sighed as he wiped his tears away. "At least Diego cared, and I tried to push him away. The irony."

"What do you mean?" Vanya asked softly. 

"I bummed a ride off him," Klaus explained, "when he was going after Hazel and Cha-Cha for killing Patch. I had him drop me off at a Veterans bar, but he followed me in knowing something was up. Before I had a chance to say anything an asshole Marine told me I didn't belong there, and I told him off and the next thing I know Diego's fighting our way out of the bar."

"Shit," Vanya sighed. "Did you at least tell Diego what happened?"

"All I said was that I lost the first person I'd ever truly loved more than myself. And considering how lowly I feel about myself, that's not setting the bar very high to begin with."

"Klaus…." Vanya squeezed his arm.

"Yeah, and that's the same day of the shootout at the motel. When I saved Diego's life and he just called me an idiot afterward."

Vanya again recalled Allison explaining how Klaus had been sober throughout his three years in the sixties, until the day after the two reconnected. "In our first timeline, you tried to get sober to talk to Dave," Vanya realized. "So, what happened to make you relapse?"

"Oh, that's a fantabulous story, too!" Klaus laughed bitterly. "Well, Dave coincidentally lived in Dallas, and it was the day of Kennedy's murder that Dave enlisted in the Army. So, of course, I figured I should try to talk him out of enlisting in a war that never should have happened. Ben said I shouldn't have done it, and as usual he was right. Not only did I make an ass out of myself by professing my love to an eighteen-year-old, I did so in front of his blatantly closeted uncle who told him to 'hit the queer,' which he did."

"Jesus," Vanya squeezed Klaus' arm again.

"Yeah, and right afterward he enlisted, several days before he was originally supposed to."

"I'm sorry, Klaus," Vanya said softly. 

Klaus chuckled bitterly. "One of the few times I should have listened to Ben."

"Klaus, I need to ask you, and I'm not trying to pass judgment on you, okay?"

Klaus nodded. 

"Why didn't you tell us the truth about Ben?"

Klaus sighed. "Because for seventeen years, all I've heard from him was what a failure I was, a junkie who couldn't get clean. And then when he possessed me at the compound Diego told him to stay inside me, but he had no fucking idea how sick it made me!"

"At the supper at our former father's," Vanya pointed out. "Ben possessed you then, too, didn't he?"

Klaus nodded. "I just didn't want to be reduced to being a messenger for my obviously much more valuable brother."

"Klaus…." Vanya sighed mournfully.

"No, it's true, right? Our former Daddy Dearest said I was his greatest disappointment because I couldn't suck up to his special training!"

Vanya jerked her head back. "What special training?"

Klaus stared at Vanya. "You have to know! The mausoleum!"

"No, he never discussed with me what individual training he'd done with you guys."

Klaus sighed. "For five years, when we were eight until we were thirteen, he repeatedly locked me in a mausoleum with corpses, claiming it would get me over my fear of ghosts."

Vanya stared at Klaus in shock. "Jesus! I had no idea!"

"Yeah. So that's why I became a fucked-up junkie. Because I couldn't handle seeing the ghosts, who were as mutilated as their human counterparts when they were killed. So, Dad, Ben, even Diego told me that my drug use was a weakness."

"Well, they were wrong, all right?" Vanya said forcefully. "And I have no problem telling Diego that."

" _Don't_ say anything to him!" Klaus exclaimed. 

"Klaus. He needs to know."

"No!" Klaus argued. "I just want this to be over with and you can all leave me behind and never have contact with me again."

"Klaus…." Vanya squeezed his arm once more while feeling her own eyes sting. The way he was talking was really scaring her.

Klaus flashed a forced grin. "It's okay, Vannie. I know you're trying to help. But I'm beyond help."

Vanya didn't know what to say at this point. She needed to get through to her other siblings how badly Klaus was hurting. How hopeless he'd seemed to feel. And for someone else besides herself to tell Klaus how much of worth he actually was.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Five, Luther and Allison returned at five-thirty; Diego showed up fifteen minutes later and sat staring at the floor while Five began, "Well, we couldn't find much about you in the library, since the only school yearbook pictures of you were until 1996. So Allison and I broke into the office of adoption files, and we got this." Five handed a very thick file folder to Klaus. "We didn't go through it. We figured that you should see it first."

Klaus grabbed the file folder and opened it. He flipped through the first couple of pages. "So, my name was Tobias Bauer. I was sent to a foster family after four months." He continued turning the pages. "Oh, and look! I got sent to an asylum when I was eight because they thought I had schizophrenia." Klaus flipped through several more pages of what appeared to be hospital records. "Of course, they put me on antipsychotics which gave me horrible side effects." A few more pages and Klaus said, "They dumped me back on the streets when I was eighteen." Klaus turned one more page. "Oh, my death certificate. My counterpart died of a drug overdose when he was nineteen." Klaus chuckled sadly. "He was a hell of a lot luckier."

Vanya exchanged concerned glances with Allison, and then she looked over at Diego, who for the first time since he'd gotten back that evening also had his eyes off the floor and looked just as worried as Vanya felt.

"Oh, and here's stuff about my actual birth mom." Klaus looked at the first two pages, and then flipped through several more, all the while becoming more and more upset.

"Klaus?" Vanya said cautiously. 

Klaus suddenly threw the file folder against the wall and darted out the front door.

"What the hell…?" Vanya picked up the file folder and turned past the pages to a typewritten report about his mother. Vanya read aloud the German text in English:

_Tobias Bauer was born to Emilia Bauer in her living room on October 1, 1989. Emilia, a married woman with two older children, claimed that she did not know she was pregnant, nor had she been with any man besides her husband. Claiming she had cheated on him, Emilia's husband immediately left her, filed for divorce, and was granted full custody of their children._

_On February 17, 1990, Emilia Bauer was discovered inside her home, having passed away from suicide via hanging (see attached police report and suicide note)._

"Shit," Vanya muttered as she skimmed through the police report to his mother's note, which she also read in English.

_Dear Lucas, et al:_

_I should probably say I'm sorry to whoever is going to find me; but then again, I'm not sorry._

_I swear to all of you that I had no idea how this happened. I promise you, Lucas, that you were the only man I had ever been with. I did not ask for this, and having this baby cost me not only you and our other children, but the respect of all of our family and friends. I cannot raise this child accordingly, and I cannot live without you. I hate that this happened and can only hope that Tobias will be placed in a better home than the one in which he was born. Because I hate this baby for what my life has become as a result, but I know it's not his fault._

_I hope you have better luck in this life than I did._

_Sincerely,_

_Emilia_

"Jesus," Allison looked shockingly at Vanya.

Luther sighed. "His mother died less than a month before these births made international news."

"That's not all," Vanya slammed the file folder shut. "Have any of you paid attention to the things Klaus has been saying?" She tossed the file folder on the floor and raced out the front door herself. 

"Vanya!" She heard Diego call behind her.

"Diego, I don't think you should try to be talking to him right now," Vanya said as they raced down the street. 

"Vanya, I have to apologize to him," Diego argued. 

"Yeah. You definitely need to!" Vanya yelled back at him. "You have no idea of what shit he's gone through!"

"Tell me. Please."

Vanya faced Diego while the both continued sprinting. "I can't. He asked me not to."

"Vanya, _please!_ " Diego cried. "I need to know how to help him!"

Vanya knew that Diego needed to know. So did their other siblings. So Vanya sighed and told Diego about Dave and the mausoleum, leaving out everything that had happened with Luther since she felt she needed to confront him first.

While Vanya was explaining, she and Diego noticed a busted-out glass door of a liquor store. "Klaus," they said to each other before moving on.

"Wait," Diego said as he noticed outside another business a stack of newspapers tied together by rope. Diego quickly cut the rope into two pieces and handed them to Vanya. "In case he tries to run away." Diego then took a deep breath. "Goddamnit, I shouldn't have done this! I shouldn't have treated him like shit!"

"Then why did you?" Vanya glared at Diego before nearly running into someone on the street. 《 _We're looking for someone,_ 》Vanya said in German. 《 _His height,_ 》 she pointed to Diego since she didn't know how to convert six feet into centimeters,《 _Brown hair to his shoulders, light-skinned, wearing a top with blue and orange flowers, and dark blue skinny jeans._ 》

The guy answered back in German, 《 _Yes, just two minutes ago, heading toward the railroad tracks._ 》

《 _Thank you,_ 》Vanya replied in German, while Diego shouted, " _SHIT!_ " in English. 

"I was there earlier today," Diego cried, panicked as they raced as quickly as they could toward the bridge. "It's an abandoned railroad."

As they approached the trestle, there Klaus stood on the beam with a huge bottle of beer.

" _KLAUS!_ " Diego screamed, as Vanya quickly hid the ropes.

Klaus turned to Diego and screamed, "Leave me alone!" He took a big gulp of his beer.

"Klaus!" Vanya carefully stood behind Diego, who was about ten feet away from their brother. "Klaus!" She repeated. "Don't do this, please! Come down and talk to us!"

"I said _go away!_ " Klaus screeched. " _Both_ of you!"

Vanya fearfully observed the river flowing beneath them while Diego cried, "Klaus, listen to us, please! We want to help you!"

"Oh, so suddenly you decide to give a shit about me!" Klaus yelled as he took another swig of his beer while carelessly swinging around on the bridge side beams. "Well, it's a little too fucking late for that, Number Two!"

"Klaus," Diego cried. "We're not numbers anymore! _Please,_ let me help you!"

"Fuck you, Diego! All you've done is treat me like shit!" Klaus' voice then broke. "And I deserve it! All I am is a useless disappointment!"

"No, you're not!" Diego pleaded. "You're so much better than that! I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry for how I treated you but _I want to help you! Please!_ "

Klaus took yet another chug from his bottle, and Vanya knew that the more he drank, the worse he would become. "Klaus, I love you!" Vanya tried to keep her voice steady.

"Get the fuck away from me!" Klaus screeched at both of them.

"I'm not going anywhere!" Diego yelled firmly.

"Just go the fuck away, Diego! You have _no_ idea what my life is like!"

"I know about the mausoleum," Diego insisted while Vanya cringed, hoping that this would not make things worse with Klaus. "And I know about Dave," Diego continued. 

Klaus then glared at Vanya. "I told you not to say anything!"

Vanya felt her eyes sting as Diego pleaded, "Klaus, I forced it out of her, okay? And I'm glad I know. I had no idea the shit you went through! I'm sorry, Klaus!"

Klaus chugged the remainder of his beer and then threw the bottle against the railroad tracks. "Last warning!" He gritted his teeth. "Both of you! Leave! _NOW!_ "

"We're not going anywhere," Vanya said forcefully. 

"Fine," Klaus yelled, and then he did the unthinkable. He jumped, and everything went into slow motion. 

" _KLAUS!_ " Diego cried, while simultaneously Vanya lunged forward, emitting an energy tendril from herself. As it hit Klaus midair, it formed a protective bubble around Klaus as she slowly guided him away from the bridge and back on the ground near the ropes. Vanya kept that bubble around Klaus as Diego ran toward him. When Diego got close enough Vanya got rid of the tendril and bubble and Diego pounced on Klaus. "The ropes!" Diego cried out to Vanya.

Vanya quickly ran and gathered the ropes while Diego had Klaus down face front, flailing, while Diego covered Klaus with his entire body. Vanya quickly tied Klaus' wrists together, and then his ankles. Diego then turned Klaus over and seated him in an upright position. 

"Fuck you!" Klaus screeched. " _Fuck the both of you! I hate you both!_ "

Vanya stood aside and swallowed the lump in her throat. "Hate me all you want. At least you're alive."

"Hey, listen," Diego stood up and placed his hands on Vanya's arms. "Klaus and I need to talk. Go back and tell the others that we're not coming back until I know he's okay." He gave her a quick bear hug.

As Vanya walked back to their shelter, she stopped at one point, sat down on the curb, and began sobbing uncontrollably. As soon as she could regain composure, Vanya continued on.

When she returned to the shelter, her siblings looked at her with anticipation. "Well?" Luther inquired anxiously.

Vanya stood and stared at them. "Diego's with him. They're not coming back until Klaus is okay." Then her eyes filled with tears. "He tried to jump off a fucking bridge. If I hadn't been there…."

"Oh, sweet Jesus," Allison covered her face with her hands.

"None of you had any idea what he's been through," Vanya said as she wiped her tears away.

"Can you tell us?" Luther asked cautiously. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Goddamnit, Diego!" Klaus screamed. "I hate you! And fuck Vanya for telling you everything!"

"Klaus, I'm glad I know, all right?" Diego said tearfully as he sat in front of Klaus. "Especially what our asshole ex-father put you through! That's beyond fucked up!"

"Well, that didn't stop him from telling me in the afterlife that I was his greatest disappointment!" Klaus screeched. 

Diego was taken aback. "What do you mean, the afterlife?"

Klaus laughed bitterly. "Oh, Vanya didn't tell you?! I followed Luther to that rave after he'd choked me out of anger because I wasn't clean enough to conjure Dad! The boyfriend of Luther's rave bunny was about to beat the shit out of him! I tried stopping him and got thrown to the ground! _That_ was how I talked to the asshole!"

"Klaus," Diego grabbed his brother's tied-up wrists. "I had no idea! I'm so sorry. About a lot of things."

"Oh, fuck you!" Klaus jerked his wrists away.

"K-K-Klaus," _Damn stutter,_ Diego thought, as tears rolled down his face. "P-p-p-please let me explain! I l-l-lost Eudora, M-m-m-mom, and then L-Lila l-l-left. I was afraid I was going to l-l-l-lose you, t-t-too, so I pushed you away! I'm s-s-s-sorry!"

"Of course you thought so, because I'm a worthless junkie!" Klaus cried.

"No, you're not!" Diego cupped his brother's face in his hands. "Look, I want you to get clean again, okay? But I can't force you to get clean. But if you want it I promise I will do everything I can to help you! But regardless, I'm _not_ going to turn my back on you! I'm so sorry, Klaus!"

Klaus stared at Diego through teary eyes.

"I'm sorry for making Ben stay inside you, too, okay?' Diego placed his hands on Klaus'. "I had no idea how sick it would make you!"

Klaus began trembling as he sobbed. "I miss Ben."

Diego held Klaus' hands more tightly. "I miss him, too, buddy."

Klaus wailed more loudly. "I'm sorry, Diego!"

Diego pulled him into an embrace. "I'm sorry, too." He held Klaus as Klaus cried again his chest. After a few minutes Diego pulled away. "Are you going to be okay if I untie you?"

Trembling and sobbing, Klaus nodded and then held out his left pinky. Diego connected his with Klaus', and then he cut the ropes from Klaus' wrists. Before Diego could untie Klaus' ankles, Klaus fell back against Diego's chest, crying loudly.

"I love you, brother," Diego's own voice broke as he tightly held his brother.

"I love you, too," Klaus spoke into Diego's chest.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"You know," Five said after Vanya had told the others about Dave and the mausoleum, "I knew something wasn't right with Klaus the day he'd returned from Vietnam. And yet I gave him such a hard time for destroying that briefcase." Vanya nodded back at him. "I guess he told you about that." Vanya nodded again.

Luther looked uncomfortably at Vanya. "I guess he told you what I did to him."

Vanya nodded emphatically at him.

"What are you talking about, Luther?" Allison inquired.

Luther guiltily sighed. "The day I found out about the moon mission, I was drunk and tried to strangle Klaus because he couldn't conjure Dad right then."

"Jesus, Luther," Five muttered, "What is it about you and choking people?"

"I know he tried following me to the rave," Luther said, ignoring Five's snark, "but I don't remember anything beyond that." Luther looked at Vanya's facial expression. "What? Is there something else I don't know about?"

Vanya paused. "I think this is something I should discuss with you privately."

"No. If I did something else, then everyone has a right to know," Luther insisted. So Vanya explained about how Klaus had really encountered their former father. "Jesus," Luther exclaimed when she was done.

Just then the front door opened. Klaus stumbled in with Diego behind him, holding Klaus' shoulders.

"Klaus…." Allison looked mournfully at him.

"Hey, guys," Diego said as the others observed Klaus' bloodshot eyes, "He's pretty worn out and needs to get to bed."

Klaus then looked at Vanya and ran into her arms. "Vanya, I'm sorry," he cried. 

"It's okay," she whispered. "Come on," she said quietly as she led him in the bedroom with the king-sized mattress and closed the door.

"So, is he okay?" Luther cautiously asked Diego. 

Diego glared at him. "You've got a hell of a lot of apologizing to do." He then walked to the bedroom and quietly knocked on the door, and then opened it.

Klaus was already passed out on the bed as Vanya sat next to him, stroking his hair. "Hey," she smiled. "He fell right asleep as soon as he lay down." Diego sat down next to her. "Hey," she continued, "I'm sorry I gave you such a hard time."

"I deserved it," Tears welled up in Diego's eyes. "I tried pushing him away. Mom, Eudora, Lila…everyone important to me either left me or died. I was afraid of losing Klaus."

Vanya smiled again. "But he didn't. And we're going to help him get clean if he wants it."

Diego smiled back and wiped his eyes. "He does. He gave me the rest of his drugs after I untied him. But I need to warn you that he's going to be pretty sick the next couple of days."

"It's okay. We'll help him through it."

Diego left to drag a mattress into the bedroom while Vanya lay down, put a hand on Klaus' shoulder and fell asleep. 


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How about Diego, Vanya and Allison being mother hens, and Klaus finally being happy for once? 😻💖

In the middle of the night was when Klaus' withdrawals began. He sprang out of bed tearing toward the front door and had just made it outside when he began to hurl. Diego was quickly next to Klaus rubbing circles on his back as Klaus dropped to his knees. "It's okay, buddy. It's okay. We're going to get through this," Diego said soothingly. After Klaus was done he started trembling profusely. Diego held him close as Vanya joined them outside. "Hey, sis, can you get him a Gatorade from the ALICE pack?"

"I can't keep anything down," Klaus mumbled.

"You need to stay hydrated," Diego told him gently. 

After Vanya returned with the Gatorade Diego uncapped it and helped apply the bottle to Klaus' lips as Klaus' hands were shaking violently. It was then that Diego noticed how much Klaus was sweating. He put a hand to Klaus' forehead.

"Not too bad of a fever," Diego noted to Vanya. "But we need to have Five get us some bottled water and some washrags for Klaus' forehead. And maybe some soup broth." He gently helped Klaus back up. "Come on, buddy. Let's go back to bed, okay?"

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

This went on all day, to where Klaus would often run outside to hurl, at least until Five was able to get a bucket; afterward they stayed in their room except for Vanya leaving the room to empty out the bucket. 

Later Allison opened the door to check on them, and to offer to take over for Diego and Vanya, allowing them time to rest. However, she quickly saw the adorable scene: Klaus was curled up shirtless with his head in Vanya's lap, and Vanya and Diego were leaning up against the wall with Vanya's head on Diego's shoulder with her arm draped around Klaus', and Diego had a hand laid on Klaus' head; all of them were sound asleep. As Allison quietly closed the door she wished she had a camera to capture the moment. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Diego jerked awake sometime after dark. Because they were still in the same position as when they had fallen asleep, he woke Vanya up as well. "Are you okay?" She whispered.

Diego quietly got up and Vanya heard him go out the front door. She carefully slid out from underneath Klaus so to not wake him. Klaus moaned, however. 

"It's okay," Vanya said quietly. "Go back to sleep." She headed through the living room and out the front door, where Diego was sitting on the steps, his shoulders heaving and his head in his hands. "Diego?" She sat down next to him and gently placed her hand on his shoulder. "You had a nightmare," she quickly figured it out.

Diego nodded, lifting his face from his hands. "About Klaus. But this time he didn't make it."

"But he did," she said softly. "He made it and we're going to help him through this."

Diego looked her through tearstained eyes. "If you hadn't been there, Vanya---"

"But I was," she said soothingly.

"Vanya, I'm going to be indebted to you for the rest of our lives," Diego sobbed. 

Vanya smiled and shook her head. "I just stopped him from completely jumping. You were the one who saved his life by convincing him to come back to us."

"He wouldn't have tried if I'd treated him better in the first place."

"Diego?"

Vanya and Diego turned to find Klaus, tearyeyed himself, standing in the doorway, holding onto it.

"Klaus," Diego slowly stood up, as did Vanya. "How much did you hear?"

"Everything," Klaus' voice was breaking. "I'm so sorry to both of you. I---I snapped and lost control."

Vanya smiled at him. "I think I can relate."

Diego walked over to Klaus and embraced him. "I promised you last night I would never turn my back on you again, and I mean it." Diego then broke down sobbing. "Please promise me you'll never do that again."

"I won't," Klaus pulled away and held out his pinky again. Diego once again locked his with Klaus'. 

"Let's go back to sleep, okay?" Diego wiped his eyes and smiled, noting that Klaus was still sweating. "You're still detoxing."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The next morning Allison was able to convince Diego and Vanya to go to the next bedroom and get some rest, and then she sat next to her sleeping brother. After a while he woke up. "Oh, hey, Allie," Klaus blinked.

Allison smiled back at him. "How are you feeling?"

Klaus slowly pushed himself to an upright position. "Still weak," he murmered, "but not as sick as yesterday."

She touched his forehead. "You don't seem to have a fever anymore."

Klaus smiled back and nodded.

"Klaus," Allison took his "HELLO" hand, "I'm sorry I didn't try to do more to help you."

"It's okay. It wasn't fair for me to keep Ben from you. If I'd had any idea he was going to leave forever, and become whoever that asshole is now living under Sir Reggie's roof, I'd like to think I would've done things differently."

"But Vanya explained to us about what possessing Ben did to you," Allison said. "And we know that happened during the God-awful supper." Allison then stroked his hair. "Klaus, that scared the shit out of me. I didn't know whether you were seizing, or overdosing, or what."

"Still, it was wrong to lie to you all."

"We've all done things wrong," Allison reminded him. "And maybe it was wrong for you to lie, but you've also done a lot of good. You saved Diego's life, and Luther's in the original timeline. And by the way, Luther feels horrible about his part in what happened to you; I think he's just giving you the time and space to recover. And if you hadn't convinced us to go with Vanya, Lila would have killed her, not known the Handler faked the kill order on Lila's parents, and that child probably would have caused another apocalypse."

Klaus smiled. "Thanks, Allie."

"That, and you got me out of that riot. I probably would have gotten badly beaten or killed, because I don't think I would have tried to rumor any more cops after seeing the reaction from Ray." Allison then chuckled. "I still don't get that scorpion-and-frog story, though.

Klaus laughed. Then he said more seriously, "I know that you feel bad for enabling me, but I did have fun with you guys at the salon."

"The three of us will have to hang out again," Allison said. "But no alcohol next time."

"You got it."

"I want us to be close again," Allison continued, "Like when we were kids and I used to paint your nails. And I'll especially never forget the day we got the tattoos. You were first to get it, and despite how much pain you were in, you held me after I got mine." Allison smiled at her brother. "You're a great person, Klaus. You always have been."

Klaus leaned forward and hugged Allison. "Thank you. I love you."

Allison squeezed him back. "I love you, too." She then let go of Klaus, and he lay back down and put his head in Allison's lap. Allison continued stroking his hair as he drifted back off to sleep.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Later on in the afternoon there was a knock at the bedroom door. "Come in!" Allison called out, reawakening from having dozed off herself after Klaus had fallen asleep. 

Of course, Five zapped in, and then the door opened. Luther, Diego and Vanya followed in. "How are you feeling, Klaus?" Luther asked cautiously. 

"Still weak, but better." Klaus sat back up and stretched.

"What's going on?" Allison asked Vanya, who sat down on the other side of Klaus. 

"Got me, Vanya yawned. "Five just woke me and Diego up and said we needed a family meeting."

Diego sat down on the mattress in front of the trio. Luther remained standing as there was no longer room for him, while Five also remained standing as the apparent spokesperson, as usual.

"So," Five started out, "As you all know, besides finding out about our altered selves, we've gotten no further than when we started this. All of us were either dead or reported missing."

"So, where do we go from here?" Vanya wondered. "If we have no documented proof of our existence, how are we supposed to get IDs and be able to earn a living?"

Five sighed. "I don't know right now. But before we decide what we're going to do with our futures, we need to make one more trip."

"Where?" Allison inquired. 

"Back to Dallas," Five said, "to find out how much of our time there affected things afterward. Especially Allison's involvement in the Civil Rights movement, Klaus' cult and, of course, Vanya's SNAFU with the FBI."

"Great," Klaus rolled his eyes. "So I can find out how many lives I truly fucked up."

Five looked at Klaus. " _I'll_ look up your cult, okay? You need to work on recovering."

"Well, there's still something else I need to find out," Klaus said.

Diego and Vanya exchanged concerned glances. "Dave," they said simultaneously. 

"I need closure on that," Klaus said. "I need to know what happened to him."

"Are you sure you can handle it?" Allison looked worriedly at Klaus. 

Klaus smiled weakly. "Yes. I've already pinky-sworn that what happened the other night won't happen again."

"Then I'm coming with you," Diego insisted.

"I'd really like to find out what happened to Ray," Allison said. "The FBI had to have drilled him about me."

"Sissy moved to California," Vanya interjected. "I have no way of tracking her down because she I'm sure she was hiding out from her State Trooper brother-in-law, whose brother was presumed missing or dead. I don't doubt that Sissy has also passed as she'd be in her upper-nineties by now."

"Same with Ray," Allison said. "But I'm as prepared as I can be for something like that."

"Luther, I don't think you should have much trouble with Jack Ruby," Five said. "And Diego, I have no idea the shit you pulled when you busted out of the nuthouse, especially since you set a lot of legitimately mentally insane people loose."

"Others of them probably weren't supposed to be there," Vanya pointed out. "They locked up people like me and Klaus back then." Vanya then chuckled bitterly. "Sissy's husband compared me to some sort of bovine disease in the nineteen-twenties."

"Asshole," Diego muttered bitterly. "If Harlan hadn't killed him, I would have myself."

"Easy, Diego," Five said snarkily. Then Five turned to Klaus. "So, when do you think you'll be up to traveling again?"

"By tomorrow, but can we make it the afternoon?" Klaus requested. "I know Germany's like seven hours ahead, and there's something else I need to take care of here before we go."

"Fair enough," Five said as he stepped out of the room, followed by Allison. Diego and Vanya stayed on the bed with him while Luther lingered by the doorway.

"Uh, Klaus," Luther said uncomfortably, "I'm really sorry---"

"Forget it, Big Guy," Klaus smiled. "And anyway, from my perspective that was over three years ago."

Luther sighed as he faced both Klaus and Vanya. "I really did some shitty things to the both of you."

"Luther, you already apologized," Vanya reminded him. 

"You know, besides Allison, Klaus was the most insistent that I let you out. He even tried opening the door and I shoved him away."

Vanya smiled at Klaus. "I know. I saw."

Luther sighed again. "Now I understand why."

After Luther left, Diego eyed Klaus suspiciously. "So, what do you need to take care of?"

Klaus looked at him and Vanya. "My street address was in the police report of my birth mother's suicide. I want to conjure her. Make sure she's okay. And let her know that I am, too."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Diego was, of course, very reluctant to agree to this, but the next morning he did decide to accompany Klaus so that he could pick up the pieces for Klaus afterward if this went sideways.

"Here it is," Klaus read the map and stood in front of a small rustic home about a mile from their hideout. He stood for a few moments, looked around to confirm the absence of passersby, and clenched his fists as his hands turned bright blue.

A woman in blue form appeared before him. She looked exactly like Klaus, Diego realized, other than a little more feminine features to her face and body.

Klaus smiled nervously as he spoke in German, 《 _Hi. Do you know who I am?_ 》

The woman smiled and responded in English, "Yes, you're my son. You were Tobias, and now you're Klaus. I've been watching you since you got here."

"Oh, shit," Klaus muttered. Then he corrected himself. "I'm sorry."

That was the first time that Diego could ever recall hearing Klaus apologize for swearing.

"I couldn't reach you before today, because of your drug use," Emilia said, "but I know you read about my suicide and took it hard."

Diego watched tears well up in Klaus' eyes as Klaus said, "I'm sorry my being born did this to you."

His mother held up her left hand. "No. I never should have done it. When I got to the afterlife, God, who's a little girl on a bike---"

"Yeah," Klaus laughed. "I've had a little experience with that."

Emilia smiled. "She told me that you were part of forty-three births, and it wasn't my fault. A month later was when the world knew that. I wish I would have stayed. Tried to reconcile with my husband. I mean, to be honest, maybe I would have suspected schizophrenia, but I would not have shut you in an institution."

Tears streamed down Klaus' face, and Diego swallowed a lump in his throat. He wanted so badly to comfort his brother but he wasn't sure if touching Klaus would affect his ability to manifest her.

"When you were four, that was when you started communicating with ghosts," Emilia continued. "I tried coming to you. I tried apologizing for leaving you. But your foster parents got scared and you eventually got sent back to the system, and then you were hospitalized."

"Did I---" Klaus' voice shook, "Did I forgive you?"

Emilia sighed. "I think you were too young to understand what happened. And then I couldn't communicate with you. You did forgive me in the afterlife, though."

Klaus sighed in relief. "I'm glad."

"And then you disappeared. From the earth's vantage point, eleven days ago. God finally told me that time traveling had brought you back to life, and that you were coming to find me. By the way, she likes you a lot better now."

Klaus chuckled through his tears. "Well, that's good, at least."

"I saw you try to make the same mistake I did," Emilia said emphatically. "I'm so glad that your life was saved. And that you have brothers and sisters who love you."

"I am, too," Klaus said tearfully, and Diego felt a tear roll down his own face. "Hey, Mother, I can't do this much longer; it wears me out. But can I ask you a favor?"

"Of course."

"Can I hug you?" Klaus smiled.

Diego couldn't stop the tears from flowing as he watched Klaus' ghost mother embrace him for a few moments. 

"Goodbye, Klaus." With that Emilia faded, and Diego quickly grabbed Klaus before he could collapse to the ground.

"Hey, buddy," Diego slowly helped seat Klaus on the curb. "You okay, man?"

Klaus nodded wearily as he wiped his face. "I just need to rest for a bit."

Klaus dropped his head between his knees while Diego sat with him, rubbing his back, more grateful than he had probably ever been before. _Klaus is gonna be okay,_ Diego smiled through his tears. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, I am completely overwhelmed by all of these comments (including a suggestion that I be a scriptwriter for S3 --- I wish!). Thank you all again!
> 
> UPDATE: There will probably be another gap before I post the next chapter. I need to re-evaluate where this story may need to go from here.
> 
> UPDATE #2: I posted a subsequent "chapter" indicating that I was abandoning this story; that's not happening and I will work on this until the end, but I still need to evaluate where this story will go. So I'm not yet certain when the next legitimate chapter will be updated. Thanks to so many of you for your support while I try to deal with my own mental health issues meanwhile.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I think that this is going to be the penultimate chapter to this work, but I am also considering writing a sequel with the siblings in their new lives and dealing with "Ben" and the Sparrow Academy. I've gotten quite attached to these characters. Thank you to everyone who is sticking with me through this, and especially for the support after my admittedly uncharacteristically inappropriate behavior. 🙀😸💖💖💖

After about forty-five minutes, Diego awakened Klaus. "You good?" Klaus nodded and the two headed back to their Munich shelter, where the other siblings awaited them.

"You took care of what you needed to?" Five asked Klaus as he held onto the briefcase.

Klaus smiled. "Yeah."

"Okay. On to Dallas." Five switched the settings while the remainder of the siblings stood in a circle, as usual, holding hands while Allison and Vanya on either side of Five placed their hands on his shoulders. 

Five opened the briefcase, and the next thing Vanya knew, they were in the same field where she could have sworn that the three Swedes had chased her in 1963. "Seriously, Five?" She exclaimed.

"Look, I'm sorry, okay?" Five snapped. "Like I said when we first started this, we've needed to transport to inconspicuous places so to not draw attention to ourselves when we do."

The siblings walked out of the field and along the road toward the south end of Dallas, while Klaus explained to the siblings his interaction with his birth mother.

"That's awesome," Vanya smiled as she took Klaus' hand. "I figured that was what you were trying to do."

Eventually they made it to Commerce, the same street where everyone had been transported back to various portions of the nineteen-sixties. "Well, this is it."

The Avon movie theater, which had then played new shows in the period, now advertised _Night of the Comet_ the night before, and _The Goonies_ scheduled for that upcoming Friday, both of which were classic and popular nineteen-eighties films. Next door, what was once known as Stadler's Diner and the bane of Allison's existence, was now called _Florentine_ with a red and green front banner, indicating that it was now an Italian restaurant.

Then they observed the alley where each had first landed, and where all siblings had used as their base of operations back in 1963.

All of the massive amounts of antennae on the rooftop were gone, of course; but they also noticed that the back door leading up to the second-story dental office was also boarded up.

"Let me check this out," Five said as he zapped away. Within a couple of minutes Five opened the back door. "Well, we're in luck. Some empty shelves downstairs, and a couple of tables and chairs and couches upstairs. Looks like the last business that had occupied this place was something similar to Barnes and Noble: a downstairs bookstore and upstairs coffee place. In any event, the place is vacant. For old time's sake, let's stay here; okay?"

After the siblings all settled in, Five said, "Okay. I'm headed off to the nearest library branch." He looked at Klaus, and then at the others. "You guys look after him, okay?"

Klaus laughed. "Five, I'm _fine._ "

"Well, a few days ago, you weren't." Five then grunted and rolled his eyes before continuing, "Look, I know I'm not exactly the best at showing it," Five begrudgingly sighed, "but I do care about you, okay?" Five then eyed all of his siblings. "About all of you." He quickly regained composure. "Okay, I'm outta here."

Five blinked back to the alley. Before he could get back out to the main street, however, he heard another familiar zapping sound.

"Well!" Five exclaimed to the person standing before him. "I wasn't sure if I'd ever see you again."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Outside of the same Dallas Deli which still had its signature cow figure on the rooftop, Klaus was able to confirm through the phone book at the booth that the Glen Oaks hardware store was still in business, but in a different part of town from where Klaus had first encountered the eighteen-year-old Dave Katz. Allison had given him, Diego and Vanya bus money through her American currency while she and Luther had headed to the library branch where she had hoped to read up on whatever had happened to Raymond. 

Therefore, nearly two hours later, Klaus, Diego and Vanya pulled up on a larger version of the hardware store. Klaus had been concerned that a "Big Box" store like Home Depot would have put Glen Oaks out of business, but that clearly was not the case.

Diego and Vanya reluctantly followed Klaus inside, where the three of them were immediately greeted by a female employee. "Can I help you?" She smiled. 

"Well," Klaus awkwardly cleared his throat, "years ago I used to know someone who worked here; and I know this is probably really weird, but…." Klaus looked at Diego and Vanya, afraid of coming across as a crazy stalker like Ben had warned him in the first place. "I was hoping to find out how he was doing."

The woman smiled awkwardly before asking, "Well, this has been a family-run business since 1947. Who are you looking for?"

Klaus sighed. "David Katz."

The woman stared at Klaus for a moment before turning to a man in his mid-forties. "Hey, Jeff. Can you help these people? This guy," she waved at Klaus, "is asking about one of the owners."

_Owner?_ Klaus thought to himself as the man approached him, Diego, and Vanya, bearing the name tag, _Jeffrey Katz-Langford / General Manager._ "Can I help you?"

"Um…." Klaus fidgeted nervously.

Then Vanya spoke up. "My brother used to know someone who worked here, years ago. Someone who joined the military. David Katz."

Jeff stared at them. "Um, yes, he and my other father own this store."

_Other father?_ Klaus thought to himself. 

"He's here if you'd like to speak to him," Jeff continued.

Klaus swallowed the lump in his throat, not wanting to get emotional in front of a man who obviously had no idea who Klaus or any of the other siblings were. "Sure."

"Your name, please?" Jeff asked. 

Klaus swallowed again as he provided his name to Jeff, who quickly left through a back entrance. Moments later, Jeff came out with an elderly gray-haired man who, other than that and his wrinkles, perfectly resembled the man with whom Klaus had fallen in love back in 1968.

Dave stopped and stared at Klaus. "Oh, my God. I'm sorry, but you look just like---"

"Klaus," he smiled. "The same guy who tried talking you out of enlisting in 1963." Klaus sighed. "I was never a prophet. I'm one of the forty-three spontaneous 1989 births."

Dave stared at Klaus, Diego and Vanya for a moment. "Like the Sparrow Academy."

Klaus looked at his two siblings before continuing. "Yeah. I have superpowers, the same as my brother and sister here. We have another brother with the ability to time-travel; and that was how you met me back in 1963. Only it wasn't the first time we'd met. We'd first met back when we were in the Army together during the Vietnam War back in 1968; that's another long story."

Dave jerked his head back. "The Army? I was in the Marines."

Klaus stared at Dave. " _What?_ "

Dave then told Klaus, Diego and Vanya how he had enlisted several days before the assassination of John F. Kennedy, as Klaus knew at the time. In 1969, Dave's troop had gotten deployed in Vietnam, during which time he had met and fallen in love with another Marine, thus realizing his true sexuality then. In 1970, that man had also gotten killed in the line of duty, which had devastated Dave. A year later Dave had been discharged himself, and he had suffered extreme PTSD from the incident and from his overall time having served. He had continued living "closeted" to his family for a number of years, until in 1980 when he had attempted suicide by overdosing on his psychiatric medication.

"My uncle, Brian," Dave regretfully sighed. "He was ironically my first family member whom I admitted my sexuality to. It scared me shitless, but he accepted me; then, ten years later, he actually admitted that he also was gay."

_I totally fucking called this!_ Klaus thought to himself as Dave went on to describe the man he had met in 1994, who would eventually become Dave's domestic partner, and then eventually Dave's husband after the United States Supreme Court had declared gay marriage legal within the country a few years back. Dave had legally adopted his husband Michael's son Jeff that same time, hence the duplicate last name.

Klaus then explained to Dave how they had originally met in 1968. "I hope this isn't too awkward knowing I was in love with you since you're happily married."

Dave smiled emphatically. "Not at all. I'm really sorry for what you had to go through, though. I definitely know what that's like."

"Well, if there's one thing we've learned," Vanya interjected, "is that time-travel romance doesn't work out. I fell in love with a woman, and I couldn't get her to come back to this year with us, despite trying to convince her that her sexuality would be more accepted and her autistic son would get the help he needed. And my sister actually _did_ get married before we all reconnected, but she also couldn't get him to come despite the fact that although racism still very much exists, it's not quite what it was like back then."

"So, you all have superpowers?" Dave inquired. "Like the Sparrow Academy?"

Diego nodded and quickly threw a knife around the room, alternating its trajectory until it hit the bulletin board in the office. "Impressive," Dave smiled at Diego before turning to Vanya. "You?"

Vanya laughed. "To be honest, I shouldn't try to demonstrate my power indoors; I'll probably cause damage to your office."

Dave chuckled back. "Okay, fair enough." Then he looked at Klaus. "What do you do, then?"

"I'm able to conjure ghosts, and physically manifest them," Klaus replied. 

Dave's eyebrows lit up. "Really! Can I ask if you can manifest my uncle Brian? Because I know he'd like to apologize to you for how he treated you back when I was eighteen."

"Klaus can't manifest ghosts for too---"

"It's okay," Klaus interrupted Diego. "I can do it." Klaus closed his eyes and clenched his fists which quickly turned blue. Then the same man who had told Dave to "punch the queer" back in 1963 appeared in blue form. 

"Hey there," Brian smiled at Klaus. 

"Uncle Brian," Dave smiled back at him. "Good to see you again. I've missed you."

"Same here," Brian beamed at his nephew. "I hope you know how proud I am of the person you've become."

"I've learned from the best," Dave said back to him.

"I wasn't always the best." Brian then turned to Klaus. "I'm sorry for how I treated you before. It was just the times back then, but I was very unfair to you." He held out his hand to Klaus.

With his still glowing blue hands, Klaus held out his right hand and shook Brian's.

Brian then looked at Dave. "This guy can't handle manifesting me for too much longer. But tell Michael and Jeff I say hi, okay?"

With tearfilled eyes, Dave answered, "Of course."

"I'm watching over you, David," Brian said. "So is your father and mother. We all love you."

"I love you, too," Dave tearfully smiled.

Brian then looked at Klaus. "Thank you for giving me the opportunity to talk to my nephew. Again, I'm sorry for how I treated you. I didn't know better."

"It's okay," Klaus smiled at Brian.

Brian took his nephew in an embrace. "I love you, David. See you in the afterlife someday. But hopefully not for a very long time."

Vanya watched as Brian faded from Dave's embrace; it reminded her of when she had hugged Ben goodbye after he had saved her own life.

Klaus then looked down at the dog tags, the same of which he had held on to for nearly four years. _I have to let go,_ he thought to himself. Dave had moved on and had made a life for himself. Just like Vanya and Allison, time-travel romance didn't work for him. If Dave could move on from the trauma he'd endured in his younger adult life, so could Klaus, he realized.

Klaus removed the chain from his neck. "These belong to you," Klaus swallowed the lump in his throat as he held out the dog tags to Dave.

"That's right," Dave smiled as he took them. "You'd tried to give these to me when I came to your place to apologize for punching you." He opened his desk drawer and placed the dog tags inside. "Trust me, I'll hold on to these and remember that these came from the person who saved my life."

Klaus looked at Dave once more before turning to Diego and Vanya. "We should get going."

Dave held out his hand. "The best of luck to you, Klaus. You're a great person."

Klaus shook Dave's hand. "The same to you."

After the three siblings left the store, they walked the several blocks to the bus stop. After they sat down Diego asked Klaus quietly, "How're you doing, buddy?"

"Okay," Klaus lied and then the tears flowed. On each side of Klaus, Diego and Vanya held onto him.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The three siblings returned to their former base of operations to learn that all Luther and Allison had discovered at the nearest library branch was that after a week of interrogation, Raymond had been cleared of being Allison's presumed accomplice in Vanya's reported status as Person of Interest along with the other siblings (with the exception of Five, of course) in the murder of JFK. Because the other Civil Rights activists had suspected Allison of being a mole before she had told Raymond the truth about herself, Raymond had kept the front that he had not had any contact with Allison since the day after the riot where she had shown up at the salon and had been told by Ray and the others to leave. There were never any reports about how she had rumored the Stadler's Diner owner to burn his hand from the coffee pot, which Allison had figured that no one would have believed his allegations in the first place.

"Funny thing is," Allison concluded, "we never saw Five at this branch. So we don't know where he ended up."

Suddenly Five zapped in holding a file folder. "That's because I wound up visiting the Commission again."

" _What?_ " Luther, Diego, Allison, Klaus and Vanya all exclaimed to Five at once.

Five nodded. "After I left here, I got a visit from Herb in the alley."

"What?!" Diego snapped. "And that son-of-a-bitch didn't bother saying hi to me?!"

Five sighed. "Calm down, Diego. He's coming back, and I'll explain why, later. But he brought me to the Commission so that I could see on the Infinite Switchboard what happened to everyone we knew here. Apparently the Commission still feels a bit indebted to us for us wiping out the field assassinations and me allowing The Handler to be killed."

"So, how is that dude?" Diego asked. 

"He's good," Five replied. "He's still head of the board and the case managers who were known as ' _La résistance_ ' now work directly under him. The Commission still works to preserve the timeline, with the intent to not harm anyone unless it's necessary for history."

"So, John F. Kennedy…?" Diego wondered.

"Of course, he's still dead," Five rolled his eyes. "I know you wanted to save his life; but do you realize how much history would have been altered had he survived, even if Vanya hadn't blown up the Federal building?"

"How often are you going to remind me of this?" Vanya glared at Five.

"Vanya, this has nothing to do with the original Doomsday," Five argued, before turning back to Diego's glaring facial expression. "Remember how we watched the original _Star Trek_ series growing up? Does a particular episode entitled, _City on the Edge of Forever_ ring a bell?"

Diego remained staring angrily at Five.

"I know what you're talking about," Vanya said to Five before turning to Diego. "In that episode, Doctor McCoy accidentally injected himself with medicine that made him psychotic, and he beamed himself down to Earth during the Great Depression and intercepted the death of a peace activist. Her efforts delayed the United States into entering World War Two, allowing Germany to win that war. Captain Kirk fell in love with her and wanted her to live, but Spock brought up the fact that while she'd had the best intentions for world peace, it came at the wrong time; and in the end, Kirk stopped McCoy from saving the woman from being killed by an oncoming car while crossing the street." Vanya sighed. "I always hated that episode, but it made sense and it's considered critically to be the best in the franchise." Vanya then looked emphatically at Diego. "I know you wanted to save JFK, but it would have dramatically changed history as a result."

Diego angrily stared at Vanya until softening his gaze. "Why the fuck do you always have to make sense?"

Vanya laughed back at him before saying more seriously, "For the record, it was hard for me to watch him get killed, especially after having just gotten my memories back."

"Vanya, stop." Diego hugged her.

"Diego," Vanya said after she pulled away and faced everyone else, "and all of you. I'm trying to learn how to forgive myself, but what kind of person would I be if I didn't feel remorse for my behavior back then? I don't ever want to be such an angry person again."

"And you're not, Vanya," Five said impatiently. "We all know that. Now, can I tell you all what I discovered at the Commission?"

Vanya nodded. "Of course." She and the others sat around the couches, tables and chairs. 

"First of all, the FBI abandoned their search for all of you after Project MKUltra came to light, and especially after the Cold War ended." Five then looked emphatically at Allison. "After we left here, your husband Raymond became good friends with Martin Luther King, Junior."

Allison sighed. "Damn it, I was afraid that would happen. That had to have been so devastating to him."

Five continued, "Raymond had relocated to Washington, D.C. in 1965 and met his second wife there. They married in 1969 and remained in the D.C. and Virginia areas the remainder of their lives." Five handed Allison a printout and said softly, "Raymond passed away in 2001. Here's his obituary, which I think you'll want to read."

Allison blinked back tears as she took the printout. "Raymond Alton Chestnut," she read aloud. "1923 - 2001. Raymond Alton Chestnut was born in Fort Worth, Texas on May 13, 1923. He graduated from Arlington Heights High School in 1941 and from the University of Texas at Arlington in 1946. He had originally worked as a college professor at Tarleton State University teaching Shakespeare before becoming active in the Civil Rights movement in Dallas, Texas, in 1954." Allison stopped for a moment before continuing, "In 1961 Raymond met his first wife, Allison Hargreeves, whom he married in 1962; and although that marriage ended in 1963, they divorced amicably and Raymond was always grateful for their time together." Sitting by Allison, Klaus placed a hand on her shoulder. "In 1965 Raymond relocated to Alexandria, Virginia, where he met his second wife, Yvonne Newman, whom he married on June 28, 1969; and who survives him. Additionally, Raymond is survived by his two children, Antione and Leticia, and grandchildren André, Jamila and Marcus. Raymond will be interred at his parents' burial site in Fort Worth, Texas." Allison brushed away tears while looking at Klaus, who was still comforting her. "I'm okay," she smiled at him. "Thank you."

Five then pulled another paper out of his file folder and looked solemnly at Vanya. "Vanya, I'm sorry. Sissy passed, too."

Vanya nodded as her own tears flowed. "I figured," she said as her voice broke while seated next to her on the couch, Diego pulled her into an embrace, while Klaus sprang from where he had been sitting to the opposite side of her and leaned against her.

"How's her son, Harlan?" Diego asked Five.

Five smiled. "He's in a group home with people like him."

Vanya looked up to Five. "Did she ever find someone else?" She asked through her tears. 

Five nodded, and handed her the paper. "Here's her obituary."

"Oh, my God, she's still so beautiful," Vanya cried as she observed the picture of the much elder woman from when Vanya had known Sissy.

"You want me to read it?" Diego asked quietly. Vanya tearfully nodded and Diego handed Vanya over to Klaus, who hugged her tightly while Diego started reading: "Cecilia 'Sissy' Duvall-Patterson, 1924 - 2015. Sissy was born in Dallas, Texas on June 22, 1924. She graduated from Garlan High School in 1942. In 1946 she met Carl Cooper---" Diego stopped to look at her.

"Asshole," Vanya cried bitterly in Klaus' arms.

Diego sighed before continuing, "---and they married in 1948. In 1955, Sissy gave birth to a very special child, Harlan Cooper. In 1963, Carl passed away unexpectedly." Diego paused while he skimmed the next portion of the obituary, and then he looked at Vanya before reading on. "During that time, Sissy met a woman who had helped her realize her true sexuality; unfortunately, due to the times and geographical location, they were unable to pursue a relationship and her special friend moved back to her area of origin." Vanya tearfully buried her face in Klaus' chest while Klaus' own eyes stang, having understood exactly what Vanya was feeling. "Sissy, meanwhile, relocated to California where her childhood best friend lived, and concentrated on raising Harlan." Diego then again paused. "In 1975, Sissy met Mary Patterson, and in 1981 they established a relationship and were initially joined in a civil union in 1999 and officially married in 2008. In 2010, with the permission of Mary's biological daughter Amanda, Sissy legally adopted Amanda as her own." Diego then looked at Vanya and Klaus, remembering their encounter with Dave earlier that day and noting the similarities as the two tearfully continued to hold each other. "Sissy is survived by her wife, Mary Duvall-Patterson; her daughter, Amanda Duvall-Patterson Landowski (Jason); her son, Harlan Cooper; and granddaughter, Dakota Landowski. " Diego paused once more before looking directly at reading on. "Additionally, Sissy is survived by her special friend Vanya, who helped Sissy see the truth about herself and for whom we will forever be grateful." He smiled at Vanya who was sobbing with Klaus. Then he handed the paper back to Five and took both Vanya and Klaus in an embrace. He kissed Vanya on the top of the head and gave Klaus a big bear hug. "Love you guys both," he whispered before sitting back down. 

Five waited for a few moments and then said, "Diego. Lila's currently in London. She found her birth mother and is becoming acquainted with her while seeking professional help for what The Handler put her through. Give her time, and I think she'll be in contact with you."

"Thanks, man," Diego smiled while Vanya took his hand. 

Five then looked at Klaus and grinned. "And Klaus, regarding your cult."

"Oh, shit," Klaus moaned while Vanya laughed and hugged him. 

"Well, within a couple of years everyone figured out that you were a fraud," Five admitted, "but they did respect the fact that you'd tried telling them. However, in particular, I need to bring up a couple of members of your cult, Keechie and Jill."

Klaus rolled his eyes. "Shiiiit." Then he looked at Allison. "I think you met Keechie when Ray was locked up."

Allison laughed, remembering having seen the same tattoos on the guy's hand palms.

Five chuckled. "Well, they both were originally from Berkeley. When Keechie went back, he was eventually able to restart his law practice. He hired Jill as his legal secretary, and they eventually married. They're both still alive and well living in the San Francisco Bay Area."

"Son of a bitch!" Klaus exclaimed. "That's fabulous!"

"So," Five continued, "here's also why I encountered Herb. The Commission is willing to provide us with documentation and IDs that would make us U.S. citizens as before. The Commission has retired employees here in Dallas who can provide us with the same documented employment history that we could provide with potential employers back in our original city. That, plus, another employee now manages an apartment complex in our original city and has several two-bedroom apartment vacancies that they are willing to hold for us and not charge us rent until we get jobs, so long as we do so as soon as possible."

"Wait," Luther objected. "I never worked except for Dad and being on the moon. And what about you, with the body of a teenager?"

"Luther," Five said, annoyed, "you've apparently forgotten that you _did_ have a job as a body man in 1963. You could easily get a job as a bouncer." Then he looked at Vanya. "I assume you will want to teach violin at the conservatory again and participate in the St. Pluvuim orchestra."

Vanya faced Five apprehensively. "Yes, regarding the conservatory, but I'm not sure about the chamber orchestra. The conductor was an asshole and our First Chair was a real snob. A couple of days after the funeral I showed up late and distracted rehearsal, and when I apologized the conductor said in front of everyone he hadn't noticed. Then later the First Chair, Helen, pretty bluntly said I should pursue something else rather than hack away at Third Chair as I had done so for a number of years. The only reason I'd gotten First Chair was not only because Leonard had killed Helen, but also because I had unknowingly used my power during my audition. That, and, I don't even have my violin any longer."

"Well, Herb is willing to give you a voucher to purchase a new violin at a music store," Five said. "He's especially grateful to you for taking out all of the field assassins."

"That, plus," Diego added, "you're a hell of a lot more confident and laid-back; I think the people in the orchestra will like you much better as a person as well as a musician."

"And you know how to control your power," Allison reminded her. "You wouldn't use your power to manipulate your audition, so you'd earn whatever position you'd get. And trust me; if that woman _would_ give you any grief, she and I would have words."

Vanya laughed. "I don't think that's necessary. Let me see how I do on my own in this timeline."

"Allison," Five went on, "I assume, or hope, that you're not going to try going back to Hollywood."

Allison laughed. "Definitely not, although I would love to do community theater. But my work during the Civil Rights movement definitely raised my awareness about the injustice against minorities not just then, but what still exists today with Black Lives Matter. I was aware of the current injustices before, but to be honest, I never faced judgment for the color of my skin; the only time my race mattered to anyone was when I auditioned for certain roles, which was much more different and justifiable."

"I'm sure the city's chapter of the ACLU would love to have you," Five smiled. "Diego, are you planning to rejoin the Police Academy?"

"Oh, hell no," he exclaimed.

"Too bad," Five joked. "Especially since I never realized that you could manipulate the trajectory of objects coming at you as well as what you throw."

"I'd like to continue professional boxing," Diego said, "and aside from that, I can do any type of general labor."

"You should teach Martial Arts," Vanya suggested. "That, plus you have some pretty sweet acrobatic moves."

"I don't think I'd have the patience to work with kids, though," Diego admitted. 

"Well, whatever," Five said. "Klaus?"

"Oh, Christ," Klaus rolled his eyes. "I've never had a real job in my life. Okay, so I admit that while we were traveling, I was going out at night to 'earn' money by stripping --- and by the way, it was very selfish for me to keep the money to myself while Five had to mostly loot food and supplies for us," Klaus looked around to everyone, "and I'm sorry."

"Hey, it's okay, man," Diego reached behind Vanya and patted Klaus on the shoulder. 

"Aside from that, the only other way that I made my drug money in the past…" Klaus dropped his gaze, "you can probably guess."

Vanya took his hand. "You know what? You would do great in retail fashion. That and you should start your artwork again and try to sell it."

"Hey, Klaus?" Allison interjected. "I think that someday you should consider going to college to become a drug-and-alcohol counselor. I think you'd do great at it, especially with teens who are discovering their own sexuality and identity."

Klaus smiled back at Allison. "Thank you."

"Since Klaus apologized," Vanya interrupted, "I need to say something to all of you."

"Vanya, enough about the apocalypse," Diego quietly ordered. 

"No, it's not that," Vanya insisted. "I did talk about this with Diego, and I realize it's kind of a moot point because of our new timeline; but I'm very sorry that I ever wrote my book. It was very inappropriate, as well as immature on my part to play the victim card."

Luther smiled at her. "It's okay," and everyone else nodded in agreement. Then Luther looked at Five. "Wait, what are you going to do, Five? You're chronically too young to work while mentally too old to attend middle or high school."

"Well, here's the thing," Five said. "When The Handler re-recruited me as a case manager---"

"You were a case manager?" Diego eyed Five. "When was this?"

Five's eyes narrowed as he smirked at Diego. "Remember the day you guys literally crashed our meeting with Hazel and Cha-Cha in that ice cream truck?"

" _What?_ " Allison laughed. 

"Uh, yeah," Diego stammered. "My car got destroyed during the shootout at Hazel and Cha-Cha's motel." Diego then got up past Vanya and sat on the other side of Klaus on the couch. "By the way, I have something to say about that." He put his hand on Klaus' shoulder. "Klaus saved our lives that day. I was going to bust into their motel room and told Klaus to wait in my car. He didn't listen and when Hazel and Cha-Cha drove by shooting, Klaus pulled me to safety. The worst that happened was that a bullet grazed my arm and that was why I had the sling the next day. Not only did Klaus save my life he obviously saved his own as he definitely would have gotten killed if he'd gone back to the car like I'd told him."

"It's okay, Diego---" Klaus interrupted. 

Diego kept his hand on Klaus' shoulder. "No, it's not, because my response was to call him an idiot. It was the same day he'd gotten back from Vietnam and even though I didn't know about that, I knew that Klaus was having a shitty day and I especially was an asshole for calling him that."

"You did try to help me," Klaus reminded him.

"I didn't do enough."

"You beat up a bunch of Marines for me," Klaus laughed. 

Luther looked bewilderingly at Diego. "Do I even want to know?"

"He followed me into a VFW bar where I saw a picture of me and Dave in our platoon," Klaus explained. "An asshole Marine said I didn't belong there, and I told him off, basically starting a riot."

"Anyway," Diego patted Klaus on the shoulder, "I'm sorry, and thanks, man."

Klaus smiled back at him.

"Anyway," Five continued, "when I went to the Commission later on in the day, The Handler had arranged to give me a new adult body, but of course I didn't stay and came back to the Academy once I got Harold Jenkins' name. However, they still have that body; and once Herb comes back he's taking me back to the Commission, and I'm going to return looking like a thirty-year-old. So I wanted to give you notice."

"When _is_ he coming back?' Diego wondered. 

"Soon. He's watching us on the Infinite Switchboard. But first there's one more thing we all need to discuss…and that is what our new last name is going to be, since we're no longer considered to be Hargreeveses."

"True," Luther said. "We _are_ going to have to figure that out."

"And I already have an idea," Five continued. "Obviously, Dad never raised us in the first place; and aside from Pogo, the only person who truly did was Mom."

"But she doesn't exist anymore," Diego said sadly.

"Not as a robot, but I believe I recall you saying that you saw the human version of her at the Mexican Consulate," Five said. 

Diego nodded. "And outside the building where we had the supper. I showed her the picture of Dad at the grassy knoll and tried to talk her into leaving him."

Five nodded. "Unfortunately, she, too, has passed."

Diego nodded, becoming tearyeyed himself while it was Klaus' turn to comfort him.

Five then pulled one more sheet of paper from his file folder. "I think you'll want to read this." He handed it to Diego. 

Diego took it, wiped his eyes and started reading: "Grace Madison Horton, 1928 - 2013. Grace Madison was born January fifteen, 1928 in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. She graduated from Smyrna High School in 1946 and went on to study aerospace engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. After graduating with her Bachelor's Degree in 1950 and her Master's in 1953, Grace relocated to Cape Canaveral, Florida and was employed as a research scientist for Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. In 1961 she launched the first chimpanzee, 'Pogo,' into space." He stopped and looked around at the other faces who looked just as shocked as he did. "Holy shit."

"Yeah," Five beamed. "I actually saw a baby version of Pogo when Diego and I broke into the old man's office."

"Wow," Vanya's eyes widened as she, too, smiled.

"In 1962 Grace relocated to Dallas, Texas for a year until deciding to return to her hometown of Murfreesboro for personal reasons." Diego's hands shook as he looked up again. "She did leave him." Tears welled up in his eyes. "It was there that she reconnected with an old high school friend, James Horton, whom she married in 1964. They had three children: Maryann, born 1966, Christina, born 1968, and James Junior, born 1971. Along with her three offspring, Grace is survived by her sister, Stephanie, and grandchildren Melissa, Stephen, Kristi, James the Third, and Nicholas. She is preceded in death by her husband James, with whom she was happily married for thirty-five years." Diego stopped for a moment and scanned the remainder of the article as his hands shook again and tears began rolling down his face. "G-G-G…."

Klaus quickly threw his arm around Diego and took the obituary from him. "Grace gave credit for her wonderful life to a young man she had only known as Diego for talking her out of making what would have been the worst decision in her life in 1963, causing her to re-evaluate her life. Although she left her career as a result, she had no regrets and was very happy as a full-time mother and homemaker. The family whom she helped create are also grateful," Klaus concluded as Diego buried his face in his hands, sobbing.

"I think that Madison would be a good last name for us," Five said as he took back the obituary. "What does everyone else think?"

Klaus smiled as he squeezed Diego's shoulder. "Of course."

"Definitely," Vanya reached past Klaus and grabbed Diego's right forearm.

"Absolutely," Allison agreed, and Luther nodded.

"Okay, Herb," Five yelled into the air, and the next thing the siblings knew the room lit up as Herb beamed into the room.

Diego quickly wiped his eyes and regained composure so that he could do his secret handshake. "Herb, my man!"

Herb then looked at Five. "So, you're ready?"

" _Hell_ yes! Let's finally get me out of this ridiculous pubescent body!"

Just like Five had with Hazel on Doomsday, he shook Herb's hand and they transported away. Moments later they returned with an older, taller Five but still looking very much like the thirteen-year-old who, with the exception of Luther, had been the only version they had ever known until now. Five had with him another file folder, which the siblings figured were their documents. 

"Impressive," Diego said. "Of course, I'm sure this isn't going to change you from being the grumpy old bastard we all know."

"Yeah, Batman," Five snarked back.

"So, are we ready?" Herb smiled at Diego. 

"Uh, guys?" Klaus suddenly piped up. "There's someone who wants to talk to us." He clenched his fists as they glowed bright blue for the third time that day, and before them stood their former base-of-operations host, thankfully not appearing as gruesome as when Luther, Diego and Five had last seen him.

"Elliot!" Five smiled. "Good to see you!"

"Yeah, I was hoping to catch you before you left here," Elliot said.

"Hey, man," Diego stood up to shake his hand. "I'm sorry for what you had to go through. You didn't deserve it."

"Hey, the afterlife ain't bad, except that God doesn't like me."

Klaus laughed at Elliot's response. 

"I also saw that you tried to give me a decent burial," Elliot told Diego, "After y'all harassed that poor old lady."

Vanya looked at Diego, and then at Elliot. "What do you mean?"

"The Swedes wrote _Öga for Öga_ ," Five said while rolling his "R" as before. "Swedish for _An Eye for an Eye._ But these two idiots," Five waved toward Luther and Diego, "looked up an Olga Foroga in the phone book and again, in true Batman form Diego threatened to kill the poor old lady."

Allison stared at Diego. "That's brilliant."

"At least they showed teamwork," Vanya snarked.

"Both of you, shut up," Diego snarked at his sisters before turning back to Elliot. "I tried to bury you but then Lila drugged me and brought me to the Commission."

" _That's_ how you ended up with us?" Herb laughed. 

"Yeah, but it all worked out," Diego said.

"We were able to save the world," Five said. 

Elliot then looked at Vanya. "Remind me never to get on your bad side."

"Ugh," Vanya rolled her eyes, but then she laughed while Diego hugged her.

"I still want to see what an energy tentacle looks like, though," Elliot's eyes lit up.

Diego begrudgingly stood in front of Vanya. "Have at it. Just don't suck the life out of me this time."

So, Vanya's eyes turned white and her chest glowed as she shot out the same energy surge with protective bubble and slowly lifted Diego off the ground, suspended him midair for a moment, and lowered him back down.

"Impressive," both Elliot and Herb said simultaneously.

"Hey, guys," Klaus suddenly moaned. "I can't do this for much longer."

"Yeah, he's right," Diego said. 

Five held out his hand. "Thank you for all of your help to us." The two shook hands as Elliot vanished.

Klaus then tilted his head back on the couch and closed his eyes. 

"Klaus?" Allison called out, concerned. When he didn't respond she looked even more worriedly at Diego. "Is he okay?"

Diego walked over and sat down next to Klaus and gently shook him. "Hey, you with us, buddy?"

Klaus' eyes barely opened as he slowly lifted his head up. "Yeah," he moaned quietly. "Just…" his eyes closed again as he barely got out, "tired…." His head tilted back again as his mouth draped open and he began snoring.

Diego observed Klaus for another moment before turning to face the others. "This was his third time manifesting a ghost today. He's worn out." Then Diego looked at Herb. "Are we good to wait until tomorrow to go back home? He's already been through a lot and needs to rest."

"Most certainly. Okay, Number Two!"

"Team Zero, remember?" Diego corrected Herb.

Herb smiled and saluted Diego. "Aye, aye, Sir!" With that Herb opened the briefcase and vanished.

Klaus remained sitting on the couch snoring loudly. Diego quickly grabbed one of the clothing backpacks and a blanket. As he guided Klaus into a lying position, Klaus mumbled, "Whazgoin' on," without opening his eyes.

"Just making you more comfortable, buddy," Diego rested Klaus' head on the backpack and covered him up. "Just go to sleep." Klaus never responded, but at least he was no longer snoring. 

"Poor guy," Allison said emphatically. 

"He's okay. He got all of the closure that he needed," Diego said before smiling, "We all did."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, regarding Dave, did anyone notice that Dave joined the Marines in canon the second season instead of the Army in Season One? I didn't until I read a ScreenRant commentary about the second season. 
> 
> So, this was quite a long chapter! And I did go the route as was predicted by providing the siblings with forged documentation. I had planned that all along, but I also tried thinking of a different way to do it, but I'm afraid that I may not be creative enough right now. I hope that as I continue to contribute on here that I can grow more as a writer and also as a human being. This has been the most original out of anything I've posted...which may or may not be saying much. But I definitely appreciate all of the comments that I have received. I have found the AO3 TUA fanfiction writers to be a great "family" and community.  
> 😻😻😻💖💖💖


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